


A Brothers greatest treasure

by orphan_account



Category: One Piece
Genre: Luffy has a sister, Minor Violence, more tags as fic progresses, spoilers at the start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-15 11:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3445829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monkey D. Leo is the younger sister of Luffy,Ace and Sabo, and has spent the majority of her life following her brothers into all their adventures. She followed Luffy when he started his journey to become pirate king and would follow him to the ends of the earth...but sometimes she has to wonder if there's more to her than that, if she could ever be more than the tag along baby sister, and maybe just maybe, with a bit of luck, she'll find a dream of her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty so I am currently in the process of transferring this over from fanfiction.net, as I am posting it both there and here, as we all know how fanfiction.net can be sometimes. So let's get down to it shall we.  
> First and foremost this story is going to follow the subbed anime, just because the dubbed is only at like episode 378 and I'm way ahead at 496 (am slowly catching up) also I prefer the subbed.  
> Second, this story is going chronologically, so there are spoilers for episodes 493 onwards. This is your only warning.
> 
> And finally, due to my laziness, I will be slow to update on this site, preferring fanfiction.net just because.  
> And yeah, that's really about it. I hope you all enjoy

"Nii-chan I don't think this is a good idea" A tiny black haired child whispered as the knife in her hand shook,

"Of course it is!" he grinned back at her with matching ink black eyes, "All we've got to do is prove to Shanks that we're tough and he's sure to take us to sea with him!"

Leo eyed her brother for a moment, on one hand stabbing themselves in the face didn't seem like the best of ideas, but on the other hand she did see the logic in it. Shanks told them they were too young to go to sea, but if they proved that were were brave and able to handle pain...then there was no way he couldn't say no!

"You don't have to" Luffy noticed his sisters unease, "I can do it for the both of us"

"No!" Leo shook her head, before grinning at him, pushing all of her unease deep inside her, "We're gonna be captain together one day, so we're in this together" She held out her pinky finger, "Right?"

"Right!" Luffy grinned looping his pinky with hers, "Together!"

"Alright!" she nodded, taking a breath, "Then let's do this!"

Despite her earlier rush of determination, Leo couldn't help but keep her hands and knees from shaking with nervousness as she followed her brother to the very front of the ship. Luffy wrapped a free hand around her's, entwining their fingers, he squeezed them as he offered her a grin. He knew it was a really scary idea, but there was nothing to fear! One small cut was nothing in the face of being able to sail at sea. Besides, he was her big brother, he wouldn't let her do anything that would be too dangerous after all.

"Oi! What are you guys doing?" Shanks shouted up at them when he finally noticed the children hanging around on the figurehead of the ship. He smiled fondly up at them, Luffy seemed to have a strange attachment to the figurehead, and whenever they docked he could be found hanging around it with his little sister in tow. (Leo herself, Shanks noticed, seemed to be more fond of the crows nest, but was never comfortable enough straying too far from her brothers side)

Luffy puffed his cheeks out, this was it,this was their moment. One hand held Leo's hand, while in the other he held his dagger, thrusting it into the air as he shouted down at the pirates below,

"I'm not joking this time! I've had enough!"

"Y-Yeah!" Leo tried to keep the stutter out of her voice, stabbing the air in front of her with her own dagger "We're serious this time! And we're gonna prove it!"

Shanks snorted before laughing deeply, deeply amused by whatever ruse they had going on.

"Ok then, show us!" He grinned up them, playing along with their little game, not for a moment worried they would do anything serious, "I wonder what you guys are gonna do this time?" It wasn't the first time they'd done something spectacularly stupid to try and convince the pirate to let them join his crew.

"Knowing those two, it'll be something childish" Benn called back to his captain, an equally wide grin on his face

Leo's hands shook as she mentally prepared herself, Luffy's own hand had dropped hers as he took his own dagger in hand. Both of the children stared intently at their blades, Leo's shook more than her brothers. Luffy slowly raised his dagger to his cheek, holding the tip against the skin just below his eye. Shank's smile dropped when he started to clue on what it was the two children were about to do. She couldn't do it, she couldn't do it slowly like her brother. She had to do it like a band aid or not at all! She Squeezed her eyes shut, then took a quick breath and thrust the dagger at her face. She dropped the dagger immediately as she let out a howl of pain.

Unlike Luffy, who managed to keep his cut small and exactly where he had planned it, his sisters 'just stab it' technique had lead her to miss her target completely. Instead the blade sliced below her cheek bone, stretching from the corner of her lip all the way up to her ear. Blood poured from the wound, as she had cut considerably deeper than Luffy had as well,

"It hurts!" Luffy howled as blood poured from his own cut.

Leo couldn't even put her pain into words,she just fell to her knees sobbing as the pain seared through her face. She was aware of Luffy wrapping his arms around her in apology, prompting her to hug him back as they sobbed into each other, dripping blood all over each others shirts.

"You idiots! What the fuck do you think you're?!" Shanks shouted as he scrambled up the figurehead as fast as he could to pull them down, pressing a sleeve of his coat into Leo's cheek, which was bleeding a lot more than her brothers, "Fuck this is gonna need stitches you idiots realize?"

Leo just sobbed harder, pressing her face into Shank's chest, staining his white shirt. Shanks sighed, running a hand through her dark hair, his thumb stroking the star shaped birth mark behind her ear. Pulling Luffy into his chest as well he carried the two to the infirmary,

"Oi Benn, grab the doc would ya? Anchor and his little star need stitches" Shanks shouted to his first mate,

"Of course Cap'"

Shanks sighed again staring down at his two little idiots, couldn't even leave them for five minutes without disaster.

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

After the traumatizing experience that was having their face's stitched back together, which resulted in Shanks having the shit kicked out of him by both children, the red haired pirate was able to return them to Makino's tavern in relatively one piece. Makino had not been impressed with the state they were returned in,

"You were meant to be looking after them!" She scolded Shanks as she took Luffy's face into her ends, inspecting his bandaged cheek, "How could you let them get hurt like this!"

"I swear I looked way for only a minute, next thing we knew they'd scaled the figure head and stabbed themselves!" Shanks tried to defend himself,

"It's ok Makino" Leo offered the older woman a watery smile, "It doesn't even hurt!" A bold faced lie, as even speaking had agony shooting through her face, let alone talking

"Yeah it doesn't hurt one bit!" Luffy jumped in, wincing as well, "Not one bit"

"Liars" Makino sighed, "But if you insist..."

"All right! Now let's have a toast!" One of Shanks men called out, raising a mug of ale, "To Luffy and Leo's bravery and our voyage!"  
"And our greatness!" Another called out,"Kanpai!"

Music filled the tavern as the pirates drank and ate their fills worth, joking and gambling, filling the normally quiet tavern with life and energy.

Luffy took his seat on a stool next to Shanks, while Leo sat on top the bar between them,swinging her feet back and forth as she tried to put on a brave face like her brother,

"It didn't hurt at all" Luffy tried to laugh off the pain, not really succeeding with tears filling his eyes, "Right imouto?"

"Nope" Leo squeaked, "Not at all" she couldn't get her voice back down to a normal pitch, it remained high in pain.

"Liars!" Shanks huffed before turning to scold them "Don't you ever do anything stupid like that again!" he turned his glare to Leo, "That goes for you too! My heart nearly gave out!"

Luffy swallowed the pain, grinning widely at Shanks, not even listening to what was being said to him, his mind focused on one thing.

"We're not afraid of pain at all! Now you gotta take us to sea with you next time!" He informed Shanks,

"Y-yeah! We're totally ready! We can take on anything the world can throw at us!" Leo declared bouncing on the counter.

Their words just drew laughter from the pirate, he had to put his glass of grog down just to stop himself from spilling it on himself.

"How could a couple of kids like you become pirates?" he laughed, "You can't even swim!" he pointed at Luffy, "And you're barely the size of an ant!"

"Well then I'll just do the swimming for the both of us" Leo shot back, before glaring at the pirate, "And I'm still growing, just you wait! One day I'll be bigger than _everyone_ on the planet!"

"Even giants?" Shanks grinned, poking her in the belly,

"Especially giants!"

"And I can fight too!" Luffy cut in, "My punches are like pistols!" he thrust his fist out to demonstrate.

"Eh really?" Shanks mumbled,turning away in disinterest, his food had become so much more interesting.

His disinterest sparked a frustrated fire in the bellies of the children,

"What do you mean by that?!" Luffy demanded, standing on his seat,

"You're still just a little kid!" one of Shanks crew members piped up, "You're about the same age as my kid" another added, "And the little lass is even younger still"

"I'm not a kid! I'm a man!" Luffy shouted back irritated,

"I'm not a little kid either!" Leo glared at them, "I'm a man as well!"

"Oi oi don't get so angry" Shanks tried to soothe them,they'd had this exact same argument so many times before. To the point where they didn't bother to try and correct Leo when she stated she was a man as well, pointing out she couldn't be a man (but her brother could) did not end well for anyone involved.

"Here have some juice" he added pushing two glasses of orange juice towards them,

"Ah thank you!" the siblings chimed calming instantly, Luffy handed his sister a glass first, before taking his own and together they started downing the delicious orange goodness

Shanks burst into laughter, slapping the table as he did so,

"See! Still kids!" he joked, "Real pirates don't drink juice!"

"Damn you Shanks!" Luffy shouted,

"That was a dirty trick!" his sister added, "And how do you know! Maybe some pirates _like_ juice!"

Everyone laughed at the prank played on the children, they were just so easy to rile up!

"Shut up!" Luffy snapped at the room full of people,

"I hate you all!" Leo declared as she spun around, crossing her legs as she sat on the bar with her back to the room, "We're not friends any more!"

The laughter in the room was cut off by the front door flying across the room, a tall thin man standing in the open doorway, lowering his leg as attention was turned to him.

"Sorry for the interruption" he spoke.

The entire tavern fell silent, the only sound being that of Shank's spoon scarping against his plate as he continued to shovel food into his mouth.

"So these are the so called pirates" the man started as he walked into the tavern "They look like idiots to me" he scoffed.

When he finally reached the bar, Makino nervously stepped around it to greet him,

"Welcome" she offered with an uneasy smile

"We are bandits" the man finally announced, "We're not here to destroy your bar, all we need ten barrels of sake"

Leo inched off the bar and onto the ground,unease filled her as she stared up at the bandits, leaving a thick tar in the bottom of her stomach. She stood between Luffy and Shank's chairs, one hand grabbing her brothers pant leg, the other reaching over to loop through Shanks belt sash. Shanks paused his chewing for a moment to offer her a confident grin, but otherwise let her be.

"I'm sorry we're out of sake at the moment" Makino sounded geninuely apologetic,

"What about Ale then? or Whiskey? how about Beer? This _is_ a tavern isn't it?" The Bandit sneered,

"We're all out off all alcohol at the moment" Makino tried again, managing to keep the shake out of her voice.

"Well that's strange" The bandit mocked, "The pirates are drinking something...is it water?"

"All the alcohol we have is out there" she insisted, "They bought the last of it"

"That's no good at all!" Shanks declared, jumping into the conversation, "We drank everything! Sorry bout that!"

He turned to address the bandit, holding out his unopened bottle of sake, offering it with a smile

"If you want you can have this, I haven't opened it yet" he grinned

The bandit reached out, as if to grab it, but instead smashed it with his fist, shattering the bottle, sending glass and sake spraying across the red haired pirate. Leo let out a shriek of panic, immediately letting go of Shanks, ducking beneath her brothers chair, hiding herself from sight.

"I'm a wanted man. I'm worth 8 million Berri, one bottle won't be nearly enough" the bandit growled, "Don't take me lightly"

Shanks tutted as he looked down at the ground, shaking his soaked arms,

"Now the floors all wet. Sorry about that Makino-san" Crouching down he started to pick up the broken bits of bottle, "Do you have a mop?" he asked,

"Ah! I'll take care of it!" Makino rushed around from behind the bar with a cloth, ready to help Shanks.

The bandit then drew his sword, slicing down along the bar breaking more plates and bottles, sending them crashing to the ground, leaving a deep scar in the wood. Leo let out another yelp, shaking now, clinging to her brothers chair, protected by the edge of the bar and his legs. If she hadn't moved she would have been in the swords path! and this bandit didn't seem like the kind of guy who cared if someone got hurt

"Looks like you enjoy cleaning up" the bandit mocked, "You'll enjoy this even more"

"No point in wasting our time here if you don't have any sake" he sneered,sheathing his sword, "Let's go" he called out to his men.

Relief flooded through Leo as the men left, she tried to stop her shaking, it wasn't easy. She could feel her brother shaking through his leg, still clutched in her death grip. He was shaking for a completely different to her, he was absolutely fuming.

Makino knelt down besides Shanks, pulling a cloth from her apron as she began to put dry the pirates shirt,

"Are you alright?" she asked worried, "Are you hurt anywhere Captain?"

"I'm fine!" he brushed her off, "No problem" he added before grinning, "No harm done." He quickly turned to scan the room, spotting Leo beneath her brothers chair, "Are you alright little star? The glass didn't catch you?" the little raven haired girl shook her head, "That's good, can't be patching you up twice in one day"

After a few moments room was once more filled with laughter as the pirates laughed at their captains misfortune.

"They really got you!" "That's funny!" "How shameful!"

Shanks joined them in laughing, as if it were the funniest thing to ever happen to him, like it was all just some big joke!

Leo was so confused, why were they laughing?! Shanks just had his honor spat on! Did he have no pride! This up himself bandit walks in, spills drink all over him, then walks out and they just laugh about it! Shouldn't they be angry?! If she wasn't so freaked out she'd be angry!

"Why are you laughing?!" Luffy shouted, voicing the question that ran through both his and Leo's minds "That wasn't cool! Why didn't you fight back?! No matter how many of them there was or how strong they look, if you don't fight back you're not a man!"

"You didn't even try!" Leo added, still rather distressed, "You just gave up!" How could this man, the man she looked up to just _give up!_

Shanks stared at them for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going through their minds. He opened his mouth, before closing it, trying to think of the best way to explain it to the children

"It's not that I don't understand your feelings, of both of you, because I do understand...but they only spilled some sake...it's nothing to get angry over"

"How is it not something to get angry over?!" Leo shouted, sounding so confused and distressed. Why were adults so damn confusing?!

"I don't care!" Luffy shouted, turning his back on Shanks, unable to face the pirate right now. He was just so frustrated! Why couldn't Shanks understand?!

It was in his sulking that he noticed a strange fruit just sitting in the middle of a chest sitting on the counter...it was brought in by Shanks earlier, one of the 'treasures' they had found during their travels . As if on cue his stomach growled, the morning had been so full of action it left him starving! and with Makino so busy serving the pirates, and now cleaning up, their food was going to be ages away! His curiosity drew Leo's attention. Pulling herself up she scaled back up the bar with amazing monkey ability, sitting cross legged next to the chest

"Do you think it's ok to eat?" she asked poking it, "I don't think fruit is meant to be purple...or be covered is swirls"

Luffy didn't answer immediately, instead just taking a bite out of it, instantly sticking his tongue out when the sour bitterness filled every corner of his mouth. He couldn't escape the horrid taste. He then held the fruit out, offering it to his sister. As much as he loved food, he loved his sister was more. And it was his duty as a big brother to make sure she was always fed, happy and healthy,

"No thank you" she scrunched her nose up, like hell was she going to eat something that drew that kind of reaction out of her brother, "You can have it all"

"It's not so bad once you get used to it" He lied as he continued to bite off chunks. It was the grossest thing he'd ever eaten, but it was still food. And you didn't waste food.

After giving the children a couple minutes to cool off Shanks leaned against his arm, chuckling when he noticed Luffy was once again stuffing his face. The kid was an endless hole.

"Stuffing it down Luffy?" He teased, "You're not even sharing with Leo! What kinda brother are you?"

"Shut up!" he shot back

It took a few moments for the red haired pirate to fully take notice of what it was Luffy was eating,

"What are you eating?!" he demanded, scrambling to his feet suddenly, stomping over, "That box...did you eat what was in that box?"

Before Luffy had a chance to reply the pirate grabbed him by the arm, heaving him up. Flipping him over Shanks grabbed him by the legs, turning him upside down and began to shake him frantically,

"Spit it out!" he ordered

Leo jumped down from the bar after a moment of shock, kicking at Shanks leg's confused by his sudden behavior,

"Leave him alone!" she shouted at him, "Stop shaking him you bastard!"

"Wha-what are you doing Shanks?!" Luffy shouted.

Before anyone else could shout anything more, or offer some sort of explanation Luffy's legs stretched, and stretched as his torso dropped down to the ground, face smushing against the the wood, before springing back up like a spring.

The entire room was dead silent, you could practically hear Shank's panic attack as it was happening.

"What was that?" Luffy asked dazed,

"What just happened to Nii-chan's legs?!" Leo demanded suddenly, sounding very panicked

Shanks lifted the boy so he could stare into his eyes, trying to impress just how serious the situation was.

"What you ate was the Gomu Gomu fruit!" Shanks shouted, "The gomu gomu fruit is also known as the devils fruit!After eating it you become a rubber man,and you won't ever be able to swim!"

Both Leo and Luffy froze, staring at Shanks in absolute shock. Gomu gomu...Devil fruit?...never being able to swim? The words weren't sinking it, they couldn't comprehend what it was Shanks was telling them...it didn't feel real,

"Did you eat any of it?!" Shanks dropped Luffy to the ground as he rounded on Leo, causing her to shrink back, "Did you?!"

"No I didn't! I promise I didn't! Please don't hate us!" She burst into tears, covering her face trying to hide her sobs,

"No way!" Luffy's brain finally caught up with his words, "That can't be true! No way! It can't!

"Morons" Shanks fell into his seat, rubbing his hand across his face. Oh Gods it'd been a stressful day,

"I don't hate you Leo" he assured the young girl, "I'm just...frustrated"

"P-promise?" the young girl hiccuped,

"I promise" he sighed, "Let's...let's just calm down so we can...figure this out" He wasn't even sure what there _was_ to figure out. All he knew was that he _really_ needed another drink.

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It had only been a couple of months since Luffy gained his rubber powers, he and Leo seemed to have adapted rather well. The sudden stretching of limbs had taken some used to, they also learned that most blunt force hits seemed to have no affect on Luffy. They tested it be Leo swinging sticks at her brother has hard as possible, or throwing rocks at him. What they learned was that being hit didn't hurt, Luffy's body just absorbed the hits, although anything sharp, like rocks, did in fact this hurt and he could be still be cut. It had been a fun afternoon.

Another thing he had learned, was that while it didn't hurt, having his head crushed under a bandit's boot wasn't a comfortable experience. The same bandits who had spilled drink over Shanks had returned. And the bastard had started to bad mouth Shanks, and pirates in general while harassing Makino. And as pissed off at Shanks Luffy had been, he wasn't about to let this bastard just sit there and bad mouth him when the man had no chance to defend himself! And Leo wasn't about to stand by and let the bandits get away with harassing Makino. (And she wasn't about to let her brother rush into a fight without someone watching his back)

Turns out that she should have had someone watching her own back, because bandits did not play fair. Not did they give a flying fuck if the ones shouting insults at them were children.

"Damnit! Apologize!" Luffy glared as he struggled from beneath the bandits boot, "Leave my sister alone and apologize!"

The leader pressed down harder against Luffy's head, earning a growl of frustration from the boy. He glanced desperately at his sister, who had a larger bandit sitting on her back, crushing the air out of her. She wheezed for air as her poor lungs were pressed against her ribs, stuck between the bandits weight and the hard ground.

"You've made a poor choice of words kid" the leader mocked, "I've never let anyone who pisses me off live"

"Get for filthy foot off my brother you low life worm!" Leo shouted as best as she could, only to have her head shoved into the dirt

"Oh don't worry I haven't forgotten about you" the bandit leered, "I'll get to you in a moment" he went to draw his sword when the mayor of the town called out,

"You leave her alone you dirty mountain monkey!" Luffy's own shout earned him a kick to the head,

"Wait please! Let the children go! Please I beg of you!" Woop Slap, the elderly mayor begged the bandits,

The Bandit stopped and stared at the mayor, taking this as encouragement, he continued to beg.

"I don't know what Luffy or Leo did, but I have no intention of fighting you! We'll even give you money!" he fell to his knees, pressing his head to the ground in a bow, "I beg you, please let the children go"

The bandit grinned nastily,

"Old people always know what to say, but it's too late. These kids have pissed me off. I'll have to kill them" He redrew his sword, but Luffy couldn't let him have the last words, if he was going to die, the least he could do is go down fighting.

"You're the bad guy Mountain Monkey" he spat up at him

"What a hopeless kid. Think about your actions in the after world. Don't worry you're sister will be joining you soon!" The bandit shouted as he raised his sword above his head

"Luffy! Leo!" Makino cried out, covering his mouth  
"Please I beg you!" The Mayor tried again.

"I wondered why no one was in the bar" Shanks sudden appearance had Makino spinning in surprise, only the pirates arm wrapping around her waist kept her from falling to the ground "and look,if it isn't the bandit from before" he observed

"Captain!" Makino nearly wept in relief,

The bandit stared in disbelief, where on earth did this man just appear from? He shook his head, it didn't matter where he came from, or where. The end result was going to be the same

"Pirate are you still here?" the leader called out mockingly, trying to get a rise out of him "Are you cleaning the entire village?"

"Luffy" Shanks ignored the bandit, addressing the boy, "Isn't your punch as strong as a pistol? What what happened to protecting your little sister from the world? Not doing the best of jobs" he teased

"Shut up!" Luffy shouted, still trying to remove the bandits foot from his face,

"I don't need protecting!" Leo tried to growl, she couldn't quite draw in enough air,

"Oh yes I can see that" Shanks grinned at her, "You're doing a fantastic job at looking after yourself"

"Fuck off" She wheezed.

"I don't know what you're here for, but you better run before you get hurt" the leader warned, "If you come any closer I'll blow your head off, coward"

At his leaders nod, one of the bandits immediately stood by Shank's side, lifting the pistol to his head, holding it against his temple.

"He said not to come any closer, or you'll get your head blown off!" The bandit growled

The bandits started to laugh among themselves, but Shanks only grinned from under his hat

"Do you stake your life on it?" he asked, pushing the barrel of the gun to the side slightly

"Huh?" The bandit blinked dumbly

"With that pistol you're risking your life...do you stake you life on it?" Shanks repeated himself

"What the hell are you talking about?" The bandit spat

"This isn't a child's game" Shanks turned his head to stare directly into the guns barrel.

A shriek left someone's mouth as a gun shot echoed through the village. Lucky Roo took a bite of his meat as the bandit at the end of his own pistol fell forward, collapsing into the dirt, blood pouring from the bullet hole in his head.

"You killed him!" the bandits brother cried out "You unfair cheating bastards!"

"Unfair?"Yassop chuckled darkly "Don't be Naive, You're not fighting against Holy men"

"The ones before you are pirates" Shanks informed him, "We don't play 'fair'"

"Shut up! We don't have any business with you!" The bandit leader spat, turning to point his sword at Shanks

"Listen Bandits" Shanks started, "Because I'm only going to say this once.I can have food or drink spilled on me, hell I can be spat at and I'll laugh it off. However, if for any reason you hurt a friend of mine...I will not forgive you!"

Leo had never seen this side of Shanks before, the seriousness in his tone...it brought her to tears, the gravity of the situation was beginning to settle on her...then again that may also be because she was being crushed under this heavy bastards arse.

The Bandit leader just laughed off Shanks warning, what he, a low life no name pirate going to do to him? A man worth 8 million!

"You won't forgive me? Fucking pirates! Men Kill them all!" he ordered

On his command his men drew their swords and rushed towards the pirates. Much to Leo's relief, the man sitting on her seemed to be included, once the crushing weight was lifted from her back she scrambled forward, crawling towards her brother, only to be kicked aside.

Beckman stepped forward, removing his long barreled gun from his waistband,

"I'm enough to take care of all of them" the first mate stepped in front of his captain

And then using his rifle as a club proceeded to bash in the brains of every bandit that rushed towards them, not even bothering to waste his precious ammunition on dirt like them. After knocking down every single bandit that dared try take them done he flipped his rifle, pointing it towards their leader, who now stood alone.

"You've got to be dreaming Bandit. If you want to fight us you should bring a war ship" Beckman informed him with a lazy grin

"Woh! Wait a minute!" The bandit was rather nervous now,raising his hands as he tried to defend himself "It was those kids who started it!"

"Say isn't there a price on your head?" Shanks commented offhandedly

Fuck, this wasn't good. Backed into a corner the bandit knew he had only one option left. Escape. Unclipping a smoke bomb from he tossed it to the ground, filling the town square with blinding, choking smoke.

"Shit a smoke bomb!" Shanks cursed as he coughed, trying to wave the smoke away.

Once the smoke cleared the bandit was long gone...as were Leo and Luffy.

"Luffy..Leo...SHIT! He took Luffy and Leo!" Shanks cried out, panicking "What should we do?!"

"This isn't the time to be panicking!" Beckman snapped at his captain, "We'll find them! We just have to look!"

The pirates wasted no time in splitting apart, searching frantically for the bandit. He couldn't have gotten too far, especially not with two struggling children.

They didn't have very long, as the Bandit had already manged to get his hands on a boat and had already rowed out half way out of the harbor, taking the children as his hostages. And with the open ocean in front of him, he wouldn't be needing them for long.

"I escaped easily" he taunted, "They're never think a bandit would flee to sea" he smugly stated, he'd once again bested the same scum of a pirate.

"Damn let me go you mountain monkey!" Luffy cried as he struggled against the bandit's grip

"Put us down you stupid slimy worm!" Leo was doing her best to struggle away as well, "Just jump over the edge of the boat and die!"

"Idiots, the only one's dying are you. You really pissed me off" Finally at his ropes end, he threw Leo into the water, throwing Luffy in after her. It took her a moment to surface, gasping for breath, struggling to keep her feet beneath her as the ocean waves tossed her around, determined to sink her. Luffy was in an even worse position than her, his devil fruit kicking in the moment he entered the water, sapping his strength making it nearly impossible for him to keep his head above the water,

"Nii-chan hold on to me!" she waded closer, so Luffy could wrap his arms around her neck. She gasped as her brother's dead weight dragged her under momentarily, she kicked furiously, as good a swimmer as she was, there was no way in hell she would be able to keep both of them above the water for too long. They needed help, and fast.

The bandit just laughed as he watched the children struggled to stay afloat, taking a sick enjoyment in watching them drown

"Sorry, you're of no use to me now" He mocked, "And I told you. I never let those who piss me off live."

And as things do, they got even worse. Drawn by the small row boat and the children's flashing the lord of the coast, a massive Sea King, rose from the water, growling down at his potential lunch.

"What the hell is that?!" The bandit shrieked.

Then with a single snap of his massive jaws the sea king swallowed the bandit and half his boat whole. His hunger barely satisfied he then turned his eye onto the other splashing humans. They were small, but they'd made the wooden boat go down easier at least. Leo and Luffy were frozen with fear, then the reality kicked in, Leo began to scream for someone, anyone, to help, fuck she'd take a mountain bandit at this point!

"Someone help!" both she and Luffy screamed, tears running down their faces. They didn't want to die!

As it surged forward, about to snap them up, something grabbed the two of them, yanking them out of the way just in time. It was Shanks. Leo buried her head in his chest, sobbing in relief. The sea monster rose out of the water once more,only to be met with Shanks death glare. Leo felt something then, a pressure, pressing down on her heart full on them, she froze in Shanks arms, every instinct in her body screaming at her to not move, to hide from the pressure, to submit to it's will. "Get Lost" Shanks spat at the Sea King.

And he listened. The mighty beast turned tail, swimming as far and as fast as he could. The pressure lifted, allow Leo's poor heart to continue its attempts at returning to it's normal pace. Shock was starting to take over, slowly shutting her body and mind down.

"I really owe you guys one. Mikano-san told me everything, you fought them because of us" Shank's voice pulled her her shut down, she glanced to the his side, and regretted it immediately.

Luffy grasped Shanks shirt tightly, trying his hardest not to sob, but the tears still flowed, seeing her brother in such a distressed state...Leo couldn't keep herself together, grabbing at Shank's sash she started to sob grossly, her throat felt like it was being torn apart, but she couldn't stop.

"Hey don't cry, I thought you two were men?" Shanks smiled down at them, teasing them as he fought off the blackness around the edges of his vision

"But...But" Leo choked on her words

"Your arm!" Luffy finished for her, finally giving in as he began to sob.

While Shanks had been able to pull the two children out of the Sea King's path, he wasn't quite fast enough to get his own arm out of the way. It was a clean lose, snapped off in a single bite

"It isn't worth much, it's just one arm. I'm just glad your safe" he assured them.

They continued to sob loudly, Shanks murmuring to them, trying to soothe them. One they had calmed down enough he started to swim back to shore with them. Not an easy task with one arm, and he refused to let Leo swim on her own, ordering her onto his back next to her brother, who wrapped his own arm around her pulling her close. It took him nearly an hour to swim back with one arm, his precious load on his back.

What happened next was blur to everyone as Shanks was rushed onto their ship, their doctor immediately preparing to close to wound and keep his captain from bleeding out. As for Leo and Luffy, Makino immediately bundled them together, getting them into dry clothes and holding them close as they cried themselves to sleep.

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

The red haired pirates remained on the island for a couple weeks, the longest they'd ever stayed, giving their captain time to recover from his loss of limb. He really should have rested for much longer, but the call of the ocean was far too strong to ignore any more. He had taken to wearing his captains coat so it covered his stump...he was rather pleased at how bad ass and cool it made him look.

The day finally came, when they where finishing their restocking, and were preparing to set off once once.

"Leaving huh?" Luffy pipped up as Shanks walked past, Leo sat on a box next to her brother watching as the pirates worked

"We've stayed here for a long time,probably longer than we should have, but it's time for us to leave. Will you miss us?" Shanks asked the children

"Of course we will!" Leo spoke up, jumping down standing next to her brother, "Your our friends!"

"We will miss you guys" Luffy agreed "But we're not going to ask you to take us with you this time" Leo shook her head,

"Oh?" Shanks raised an eyebrow at them"

"Uhuh, we've decided, screw you guys, we're gonna become pirates all by ourselves" Leo stuck her tongue out at the pirate.

Shanks did the entirely mature thing and stuck his tongue out in response

"Either way I wouldn't have taken you with me" he teased, "Like you guys could be pirates"

Luffy grit his teeth, his sister puffed her cheeks out, oh Shanks was going to miss this, they were just so easy to get a raise out of!

"We will! We will gather our own crew that will beat yours! And find the worlds greatest treasure! No matter what we will become the Pirate King!" Luffy shouted at them

"That's right! Then we're gonna find you and kick your arse! And you're going to have to admit that we're better pirates than you!" Leo added on

"Oh you're going to beat us!" Shanks said, "Then..." he took off his hat, placing it on Luffy's head, "I'll let you take care of this hat. It's very important to me. Take good care of it" He paused then, tapping his chin. "And I know!" With his one arm he reached down to his waist, tugging his red sash free from his waist, before wrapping it around Leo's neck, "This is equally precious to me, but it's practically useless now that I have one arm."

He took a step back, smiling down at the whimpering children,

"There, now you guys do me a favor, look after those for me will ya? Then when you become great pirates, return them me. Do you think you can do that for me?"

The brother and sister nodded their heads violently, trying hard to keep their tears in. They were men, and men didn't cry. They clutched their new treasures, linking their hands together, trying to squeeze comfort into the others fingers.

"Goodbye Shanks!" Leo called after them, "Next time you see us we're going to be ruling the seas!" She promised

And that's how it all started, through the gifting of a straw hat and a red sash, the entire course of history wasn't just changed, but shoved of the rails, demolished beneath the dreams of two wayward stars.


	2. Chapter 2

The first few days after the Red Haired pirates final departure from Dawn island was hard on the Monkey D. siblings. Luffy seemed to bounce back much faster than his sister, throwing himself into practice his new 'moves'. He was delighted to discover that if he stretched his arm back before he punched, he could put a lot more force into his punches, making them even stronger! His aim...well he was still working on it.

Leo found it much harder to shake her depression, as she didn't have a distraction like Luffy did. Before she had been able to spar with her brother just fine, but now? Even with zero control of his new powers Luffy's strength shot up to a whole new level, leaving Leo struggling to catch up. They had certainly tried, after all Leo was the only child on the island who now didn't run away from Luffy,but after several broken noses Luffy decided enough was enough and refused to spar with her. He wasn't willing to risk her health just so he could get stronger. It wasn't worth it.

To make matters worse their grandpa had finally returned to them, and upon learning that Luffy was now the user of a devil fruit (after a minor freak out he smacked his grandson through a wall for being so stupid as to eat a fucking Devil Fruit. How on earth did he plan on becoming a marine if he couldn't swim!) He then decided it was time to continue his marine training. Which of course meant dragging Luffy into the jungle for 'training' leaving her behind in their small three bedroom cabin. Every time she approached the subject of maybe being allowed to join her brother on his 'training' even if it was just to watch Garp would completely flip out. Under no circumstances was she to leave the house until they got back!

According to Garp Luffy was going to become a great Marine, while Leo was going to grow up sheltered and protected, and either become a paper pusher in the marines, stuck on the career track behind a desk or end up as the wife of a Marine, staying at home safe and sound. Nothing sounded worse to the young girl. Her heart yearned for adventure and freedom, for the ocean. She wanted to sail to the ends of the earth, visit every island this world had to offer, to stand upon every beach...she didn't dare breath a word of her dream around her grandfather. Every time she mentioned wanting to sail he looked as if he was going to have a panic attack.

He would instantly start lecturing about how dangerous the ocean was, that a ship was no place for someone as small and fragile as herself. He wanted Luffy to grow up strong, so he could continue protecting his precious granddaughter when he is passed and gone,

"I don't need protecting gramps" She'd grumble, "I can fight and protect myself"

But in the end he'd always put a firm foot down, it wasn't happening. Not on his watch. The only good thing that really came from it all was that Garp wasn't as physical with Leo as he was Luffy...in fact he wasn't physical at all. Where's he'd freely throw out 'fists of love' to his grandson, having no issues at tossing him around like a rubber ball. To date he had never laid a hand on Leo, not in violence. Only to gently cup her face and stroke her freckles. She was his precious star, and he had to protect her.

But of course this meant she was often left stranded in a house that suddenly seemed so much larger, for days at a time. With only the heavy clouds that settled around her shoulders to keep her company.

She tried to keep herself busy, she started with cleaning the house...but with only her there really wasn't much to clean, killing maybe an hour at most. She'd make the short walk into town to by food and other supplies...but again, Garp and Luffy spent most of their time in the forest. If they did return it was late at night, when Leo was already curled in bed. She entertained the idea of visiting Makino, but the thought of visiting the tavern without her brother sent a stab of pain running up her side. It just felt...wrong and besides what would she even do?! Luffy was the one who lead the conversation, the one who made the first move. She would happily sit by his side, cutting in every now and then, but ultimately let him take the lead. The thought of being the center of attention had her heart jumping in panic.

So once her chores were done and dusted, and she was left with an entire day to somehow pass away she did the only thing she really could do. Packing lunch into an old rack sack, she'd start the short walk to the shore line. Sometimes she'd stop at the docks, watching the fishermen go about their work, most days she just passed on by, waving as she passed. The further she walked along the coast the higher the cliffs grew, and the less populated the area became. It took half an hour to reach the knotted cheery blossom tree she had carved her 'pirate mark' in to.

The tree marked the exact spot where the ocean had carved out a tall scar in the cliff face, providing Leo with the perfect ladder down to the patch of sandy beach below. Dropping her bag down onto the sand she started the slow process of climbing down the cliff face to her secret little cove. Well it wasn't completely a secret, she had of course shared it's existence with her brother (how could she not).

Stripping down to her underwear she'd spend the afternoon swimming in the shallow waters, protected from both sides by the curving cliff face. Leo figured that over the years the ocean wore away in this one spot, creating a protected 'bubble' so to speak. She'd then crawl onto the sound, eat her fill and doze on the warm sand, coating her wet skin as she rolled around. Luffy used to join her, while not able to swim quite as far out as she was, he still found joy in splashing in the shallows. But ever since he had eaten that devil fruit...Leo stared at at the blue sky, her heart clenching painfully. Luffy hadn't joined her in their cover since he had eaten the fruit.

Even this tiny spark of light soon lost it's luster, as the dark fog clawed at even this, sucking the enjoyment out of it. What even was the point of having a secret beach if she couldn't share it with her brother?

Her visits to her beach became less frequent, until she stopped visiting all together, she stopped visiting the docks, cutting herself from the ocean. What was the point? What was the point in enjoying something when she couldn't share that with Luffy? After a while she didn't even bother cleaning up after herself, dishes began to stack up and piles of dirty clothes grew to the size of considered it a good day if she could roll off her futon and stumble out of her room. Now Luffy wasn't the brightest of people, but when it came to his sister, no one was more knowledgeable than he. And he knew something was wrong. Her tired smiles didn't have the same light in them, she couldn't even gather the energy to laugh at his jokes and pranks when he was around! He even knicked a bit of food off her plate to see what her reaction would be. Nothing!. What really worried him was that she had stopped sneaking into his room at night! Garp was pretty insistent that they slept in their own rooms, that it was inappropriate for a boy and a girl to share the same bed (even if they were brother and sister) Not that either of them actually listened to him. Every night without fail Luffy would find himself in Leo's bed, or Leo would find her way into his bed.

Until he was returning home too tired to even attempt sneaking into his imouto's bedroom, leaving the task instead to her. Which worked out alright for a few days...until one night she didn't. Too tired and sore from training he couldn't force himself to crawl from his warm and comfortable bed. The next night he was awoken by her crawling under his arms, snuggling into his chest, so he didn't think much of it. But the absent nights grew in frequency until they stopped altogether. Sleeping suddenly became a tiring and stressful task, his mind unable to settle without his sister safely tucked into his arms. What if something happened during the night? What if she needed him? What if he needed her?!

His baby sister was hurting and he wanted to fix it. But how could he fix something when he didn't know what was wrong? He just wanted everything to return to the way it had been before!

Ironically, it was Garp that started that started the series of events that would provide the solution to the problem he had unintentionally created. As it always did, duty called. The old marine was growing more and more worried about his grandchildren, Luffy seemed stuck on a path that he just _knew_ was going to lead to the boys demise. He knew Luffy probably thought he was being mean, but there was just no way he could get the boy to understand. He _had_ to become a marine if he didn't...Garp didn't even want to think about what would happen if he went through with his promise to become a pirate. His poor old heart couldn't handle it.

Then there was Leo, his precious little star. With every passing day her light dimmed, and Garp had no idea what he was doing. Luffy was easy, but Leo? He had no idea what he was doing. All he knew was that every time he looked into her dull eyes his heart shattered, panic rising in his chest. They had always warned him the only thing keeping her alive was her own will to live, what if she broke? What if she gave up? He had to do something to fix both problems, but he had no idea how.

But these problems all seemed to stem from the fact that Garp had left them alone, obviously that was a mistake. The peaceful village had made Luffy weak,had allowed scum like that red haired bastard to fill their heads with dangerous ideas. Dangerous ideas that were no doubt the source of their current misfortune! Which left him with only one option. They needed to be relocated.

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It was just like any other day for Leo, she was risen from her slumber by the sound of Garps attempts to drag Luffy from his own deep sleep. How on earth could anyone sleep through the racket they made. Even so she kept her eyes shut, waiting for the crash that would soon follow Garps shouting. Luffy would shout and whine but would ultimately quieten once food was placed in front of him. Once his hunger was satisfied Garp would drag him out to the jungle for another day of training. Leo would then let herself slip back into sleep. Drifting in and out of the and of waking until the boys returned and called her to dinner.

But today didn't play out like every other day. Instead of the crushing silence coaxing back into a heavy dreamless sleep she felt herself being shaken by her brothers warm rubbery hands.

"Leo! Wake up Leo!" he shouted as he shook her

The dark haired girl groaned, swiping an arm out at her brother, before tugging a blanket over her head,

"G'way Luff 'm sleeping" she mumbled

"You gotta wake up! Gramps has a surprise for us!" he bounced on her futon, careful not to jump on her legs.

Finally fed up Leo kicked out, catching Luffy in the stomach, the blow sending him rolling off her laughing, against his new rubber body her kicks and punches didn't even hurt anymore! (unless she kicked him square between the legs. _That_ still hurt like nothing else)

"Fine, fine I'm getting up" she groaned, "Just quit your shouting"

Luffy just grinned, pulling himself into a sitting position crossing his legs, his precious straw hat hanging against his back by a bit of string. Leo eyed her brother for a moment, this was the longest they had spent together in a number of months. She had kind of expected it to be awkward, she was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't. With a sigh she threw her blanket off her, pulling herself over to the pile of discarded clothes, picking through different shirts, holding them up to her nose to determine which were clean enough to wear.

"So what does the old man want?" she muttered as she pulled on a baggy dark blue shirt, noting absently it wasn't actually hers. She grabbed a pair of shorts, again not hers...maybe she should get around to sorting through them one of these days...before carefully picking up Shank's red sash (which she had wrapped around her pillow, the smell of sake and whiskey was oddly comforting.

"Don't know" Luffy grinned with a shrug, "It's a surprise!" He had promised it was a good surprise.

Leo just nodded absently, causing Luffy's grin to call,

"Leo..." he started with a frown.

Leo rose her gaze to meet his eyes, her eyes softening as Luffy's face twisted in frustration. Words were never easy for the duo, they could never find the right words to match what they wanted to say. So instead Luffy reached out, grabbing her hands, giving them a squeeze as he stared deep into her eyes, trying to get across everything he was trying to say. _I'm worried about you._ Leo blinked. She wasn't entirely sure how she understood what Luffy was expressing through his actions...but she did. Maybe...maybe she could just... Twisting her wrists she entwined her fingers with his, _Please don't worry_ She gave his fingers an experimental squeeze, _I'll be fine_ she offered him a weak smile _I always am in the end_.

They continued to explore this strange new form of physical communication until Garp kicked in Leo's door, grabbing the two declaring that they were now leaving. He dropped Leo to the ground as he marched the children behind their house and into the jungle, ordering her to stay close. Leo followed along obediently, slipping her hand into Luffy's.

"JiJi where are we going?" she questioned, speaking to her grandfather for the first time in probably a week. The excitement of the situation jolting her from her depressive slump, at least for the time being.

"We're going to meet someone" he answered her, "Several someones in fact. I'd like you guys to meet Ace"

Luffy had to jog to keep up with his grandfathers long strides, the only thing keeping Leo from falling behind was Leo's hand tugging her along.

"Hey Jiji, who's Ace?" he asked after a few minutes of silence,

"Well you see..." he hesitated a moment, trying to find the best way to word it to the children "He's going to be your big brother from now on"

The comment had Leo freeze mid step, causing Luffy to continue forward, his arm stretching as he went...another brother? That...that couldn't possibly send well for her. What if Luffy decided he liked this Ace more than her? What if he wants to spend all his time with his new brother? What if he wasn't a good big brother?! Every possible terrible situation ran through her mind, informing her of each and every way this could go wrong.

With much slower steps she followed Garp and Luffy, the weight on her chest and shoulders heavier than before, pessimistic of what the future held for her, truly unaware of what the universe had in store for her and her brothers.


	3. Chapter 3

To be honest Leo didn't know what her grandpa was thinking, trying to argue with Luffy over his future. Garp was insistent that Luffy was going to grow up to be a Marine, just like him, while she was to stay home, away from danger. Probably marry a marine, and live a happy, safe and settled life. Or maybe take a nice safe desk job for the marines, a secretary or something similar. Leo had already decided she would rather jump off a cliff then spend her entire life stuck behind a desk or in some house cut off from the ocean. But unlike her brother, she was smart enough to know there was no point in arguing with their grandfather. It was easier to just nod and agree to his face.

As they made their way through the forest path she made sure to stay several paces behind Garp who was dragging Luffy by his cheek, doing her best to avoid her brothers flailing arms.

"Like I said grandpa!" he tried arguing, trying to pull his face from his grandfathers painful grip, "I'm going to be the pirate king! We both are!"

Hearing her brothers words lit a flicker of warm hope in her chest, he still included her in his dreams...for now at least. At the same time, as much as it touched her, it was kind of ruining her plan to keep Garps annoyance and attention off her.

"What do you mean pirate king?!" Garp turned to glare at them both. Dammit! Leo shrunk back, couldn't Luffy just for once in his life lie?

"Let me go!" Luffy whined as he tugged on his face, only really succeeding in stretching it out.

"Not only did you eat that Devil Fruit, but now you're spouting nonsense as well!" Garp continued to rant, "Worst of all you've dragged your sister into it all!"

"Nii-chan didn't drag me into anything" she couldn't help but defend her brother, Jiji was already angry at them both, as they say hang for a lamb hang for a sheep...what ever that meant.

When Garp turned his glare towards her she shrunk back even more, locking her jaw to stop herself from opening her big mouth any further. Garp grit his teeth, locking his own jaw. He wanted to let the words bubbling in his throat spill forth, to rant and rave about how, of course she was dragged into it! There's no way _his_ precious little girl would willingly have anything to do with any of this. He had literally flipped a table when he saw the stitches holding her cheek together. The skin had healed over now, leaving a thin, but very visible scar. Every time his eyes landed on the imperfection rage swelled in his belly, making him want to rip a tree out and hurl it at someone.

But he refrained. Because they way his little star flinched away from him was like a block of ice sliding down his throat. So for now, he let it go. Instead focusing on his other grandchild.

"Luffy, both you and Ace are destined to become great marines!" he declared loudly, turning his back on his little star. Not entirely realizing that maybe his lack of words and reaction were gonna do more harm than good.

He probably thought it was better if he kept his mouth shut, to not rant and rave about Leo's future like he did Luffy's. To not describe in detail the life he had planned for them both (after all it only seemed to distress her). All it really did was send a spike of pain running through the child's chest, smothering the flicker of fire in her chest...of course Gramps wasn't including her in his plans, she obviously wasn't important enough. Luffy, and this kid Ace, they were the ones that had Garps full attention and devotion...she was just the annoyance on the side that had to be taken cared of eventually.

"Dammit!" her brother moaned as he continued to tug on his face, wincing as pain shot through his skin, "I'm made of rubber, how does this hurt?Please let go Grandpa!"

"Leaving you in that peaceful windmill village was a mistake!" his lecture seemed to never end, "I should have never let you leave my side!"

Leo glared at his back, 'you mean abandoning us in that village' she mentally scowled, her mood worsening the further they walked into the forest. And being left in Foosha was the best thing that had ever happened to them. She didn't have many memories of her life before Foosha, she was after all only two when Garp dropped her into her three year old brothers arms announcing he was now a big brother. (While he had originally been very upset with the news he was now going to have to _share_ his things with this new _sister_ the moment she looked up at him with those deep black eyes he was instantly in love) But what she did remember...flashes of...things. Some good; bright yellow eyes, painted smiles, fire and laughter and some...not so good, crashes and screams and explosions that still haunted her dreams if she dared sleep alone.

And besides, if Garp had never dumped her on Foosha she would have never met her brother...and she would have spent her entire life, as short as it was, all alone. The thought drove nails under her skin.

"And of all things the Pirate King?" Oh Jiji was still going? Leo blinked as she was pulled from her daydream.

"Yeah!" She sighed, Luffy _really_ needed to learn that sometimes it was ok to lie.  
"You moron!" Garp shouted back.

Leo watched, an amused smile forming,as Luffy reached out to a passing tree, wrapping his rubbery limbs around it, latching on like a vine. Garp of course paid zero attention, he just continued walk. Probably a bit too lost in his lecture to fully pay attention to the way his grandson was suddenly stretching beneath his fingers, or to the way the tree was making an unhappy groaning noise.

"Becoming friends with that damn Red Hair Shanks is completely unacceptable!" Garp continued to rave, "And letting your sister be exposed to that mans despicable ways!" Leo frowned, when he put it like that he made it sound like Shanks was doing something...well something really bad.

"Careful Nii-chan" she muttered as she came to a stop next to her brother, deciding to wait until it was once again safe to keep walking.

It was a good thing too, mare moments after she stopped by her brothers side the tree finally decided it had had enough, the last of the clinging roots snapped under the pressure, sending the tree, and Luffy with it, hurtling towards Garp. Leo could have voiced a warning...she covered her mouth to hide her smile and giggles as the tree slammed into Garp's back, sending him crashing to the ground.

"I'm going to become as strong as Shanks is!" Luffy, as resilient as he was, was completely unaffected why the sudden trip the tree was taking. He remained tightly wound around the tree, his grip iron clad. Garp tugged at the stubborn child, but not even his enormous wells of strength could dislodge the child. Garp couldn't help the spark of pride that blossomed in his chest, his grandson was so strong at such a young age, he would make a great Marine...if he only just got this unacceptable idea of being a pirate out of his head.

Leo felt her shoulders drop as exhaustion washed over her, it had only been an hour since she had woken, maybe an hour and a half...and she was already shattered and ready to crawl back into bed. And as much as she enjoyed watching Garp try and win the losing battle that was Luffy, she just wanted to get this day over with.

"Come on Nii-chan" she mumbled quietly, "Please just let go so we can just get there already" she pleaded.

The affect of her tired desperate tone was instantaneous. Luffy immediately allowed his limbs to recoil, not quite calculating just how much enjoy tightly coiled rubber limbs could generate, knocking himself and Garp back down. Much faster than their grandfather, Luffy was back on his feet, hat firmly on his head with a serious look on his face. His eyes were instantly on his little sister, his gaze running across every inch of her, trying to pick up the smallest hints of...well he wasn't sure what. But it was important.

With a nod of determination he instantly wrapped his arms around his little sister, maneuvering her onto his back,

"Nii-chan!" Leo squeaked, "What on earth are you...I can walk!"

"You can" Luffy nodded, "But you're also tired. And sore. And not used to walking _and_ I'm your big brother therefore I have to look after you" he rattled off,

"By like 10 months" Leo muttered to herself, but none the less wrapped her arms around her brothers neck and her legs around his waist,

"Onwards then my noble Nii-chan" she pointed forwards.

Garp watched as Luffy shot forward, earning a shriek from Leo, before giggles as he jogged head. Then ran back and around Garp, jumping over logs and rocks, an unending source of energy. Panic rose in his chest, he wanted to slam his foot down, dull Leo from her brothers back. She could fall! or Luffy could drop her or throw her or...or...The endless possibilities stuttered to a halt when a weak smile spread across her face...maybe he could allow it for a short while.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

A short while turned out to be several hours it seemed, by the time they came across the cabin hut they assumed was their destination Leo was practically asleep on Luffy's shoulder. Garp's sudden loud banging on the door pulled her violently from her napping.

"What's this place?" Luffy wondered, he grinned bouncing Leo a bit to wake her up, before taking off down the side of the house to explore. Leo yelped at the sudden jolting, tightening her grip around her brothers neck.

While they didn't see it, they could certainly hear the person who answered Garp's door bashing.

"Would you cut it out! Who's the reckless daredevil?!" she screamed as she tore the door open.

"It's me" Garp crossed his arms, staring at her with an annoyed eyebrow raise

"AH! G-Garp-san!"

And then Luffy came back around the front of the house, cheering as he ran around, still firmly gripping his sisters hand. Leo, the weight on her chest lifting, giggled as she stumbled behind him, allowing herself to be dragged along behind him, ducking around the back of the house, in and out of the edges of the forest, she managed to catch fragments of conversation whenever they ran passed the grown ups.

"...that Ace is already ten years old you know!" The red haired woman shouted

"...Been that long? How is..." You couldn't mistake Garp's voice if you tried

"...any wilder, we won't be able to control him at all..." The bandit woman continued, wild? Leo frowned, great their supposedly new 'brother' was wild. That being said both she and Luffy were running around like savages, granted Luffy was making more noise than her but that wasn't the point.

The red haired woman grit her teeth as she felt a pounding headache take hold, she turned her glare to the source of the noise causing the pain

"Gods! Those kids are so noisy!" she snapped

Garp reached out, grabbing Luffy by the back of the shirt with ease, holding him up. Leo quickly wrapped her legs around Luffy's waist and her arms around his neck,hanging upside down like a sloth.

"Take care of them as well" Garp didn't so much ask the woman as he did tell her, she really had no choice in the matter.

The bright feeling in her belly was quickly snuffed out, so they were being dumped again. Of course they were, she should have know better than to think otherwise...but she couldn't stop the tiny flicker of hope that maybe they weren't being abandoned. Again. At least she still had Luffy. For however long that would last.

"Come now Luffy say Hello" Garp gave his grandson a light shake, very aware of his tiny granddaughter clinging to him like a baby sloth

"Heya" Luffy raised a hand in greeting before slipping it around Leo's shoulders, his own legs wrapping around her to keep her from falling.

"You too Leo" Garp prompted,

When she shook her head, hiding it in her brothers chest, as awkward as that was, Garp didn't push the matter. Letting her have her way, if she didn't want to say hello then she didn't have to say hello.

"And this is Leo" he greeted for her.

"Who're those kids?" The bandit grumbled

"They are my grandchildren" Garp grinned cheerfully

It took a few moments for the bandits to process the information. Garps...grandchildren. The children of his children...Garp had kids?...who had...kids...who were now...here...

"WHAT?! We've got another one! No another two to look after!" the poor woman looked like she was about to have a heart failure, "And they're Garp's, shit no they're Garp-san's GRANDchildren?!" her voice cracked

The bandit's reaction only soured Leo's mood further, their grandfather didn't want them, and these bandits obviously didn't want them. No one wanted them. They were alone. She was alone...well...She buried her head further into her brothers chest, listening to his steady heart beat. She wasn't entirely alone...she had her nii-chan. But still, even when it was just the two of them...well somehow it still hurt even when it was the two of them.

Garp lowered them to the ground, letting Leo carefully drop to her feet before dropping Luffy. Taking her hand again Luffy wandered around again, this time not straying as far as he had before. He of course had picked up on his little sisters shift in mood. How could he not notice how she stiffened in his embrace, or how she step had a lot less bounce than before...frowning he was determined to lift her mood somehow.

"What a crappy mountain hut" he stated loudly, trying to prompt a smile. Nothing. Ok time to up the game

"You want to die you brat?!" The woman, Dadan, shouted at him. But Luffy wasn't listening, his attention turned to more important things. He had to get Leo to smile again, the answer literally flew past his face. A dragonfly! Leo loved dragonflies! With a determined grin he tugged her along, letting go of her hand to swipe at the elusive flying bugs. Leo couldn't help but giggle as she jogged after him, watching as he jumped after the tiny bugs, failing to get one between his stretchy fingers. Luffy's chest swelled up with satisfied pride, he had made her smile! His victory was short lived when something very wet and warm hit his cheek, sliding down his face. He raised a hand to wipe it off, frowning

"What was that?" Leo inched forward, reaching out to wipe the rest of it off his face

"It's spit! Nasty!" Luffy cried out in realization

"Ewwww!" Leo let out a grossed out squeal waving her hand to get it off, then something equally wet and warm hit her forehead, she let out a distressed whine as it dripped down into her eyes. Fuck that was gross, and it was in her eyes! She just wanted to curl up and cry. Even when she felt Luffy's hands wiping the spit off her face, his chubby child fingers unusually gentle she couldn't help but sniffle pathetically.

"Who's there!" Luffy spun around looking for the culprit, furious that he had nearly made his imouto cry! (he was also pretty pissed off that he spat on him as well, but the worst crime was spitting on Leo as far as he was concerned.) He spotted the boy, sitting on top a high boulder, arms crossed, on leg over the over and a deep frown set into his face as he glared down at the two younger brats. Leo's hands gripped the back of Luffy's shirt, as if using her brother as a meat shield would protect her from the shear hate in the kid's eyes.

"Hey! You!" Luffy shouted at the culprit, "Apologize! That's really gross! You apologize to Leo now!"

Garp's attention was caught by Luffy's shouting, his gaze finding the source of the young boys anger.

"Oh! Ace!" He called out cheerfully, the only person it seemed unfazed by his attitude. Ace briefly moved his glare from the children to his 'grandfather'

"You're back Ace!" The bandits gasped out, sounding both surprised and nervous about the fact. Excellent, Leo wouldn't help but think, they were gonna be living with psychos.

She blinked away her tears, refusing to give anyone the satisfaction, lifting her chin she gave the boy, this 'Ace' a once over. He was a fairly handsome. boy, with long wavy black hair, his cheeks sprinkled with hard to see from this angle she gussed he was going to be taller than her and her brother, that being said everyone seemed to be taller than her. The young girl would have gone as far to say he was pleasant looking...if it wasn't for his eyes. Maybe a couple shades lighter than her brothers, and they appeared just as deep. Unlike Luffy, who's eyes were deep pools of warmth and energy, this Ace's eyes were like dark cold voids. Hard and unyielding as he continued to glare down at them.

"Hey!" Luffy shouted again, trying to catch the bastards attention, "Apologize!"

Ace's hard gaze shifted back towards them, Leo could feel her insides twisting uncomfortably under that gaze.

"Luffy, Leo, That's Ace" Garp had walked up behind the siblings as he made the introductions, Leo took her chance, moving from behind her brothers back to behind her grandfathers legs. The rude boy wouldn't dare spit on her with Garp between them.

"He's three years older than you Luffy. Starting today, you'll be living with these people" Garp informed his grandchildren

Just like that they had once again been uprooted and dumped, the young girl glared at her grandfathers legs, returning to her brother. If he didn't want them then fine! She didn't need him anyway! She couldn't help the sharp stab of hurt that shot through her chest, logically she knew this was coming...but for their gramps to do this to them, to her, _again,_ well...it hurt. More than she was ever going to admit.

"You just decided that by yourself!" the bandits made themselves known again, crying out in shock.

Of course he decided already, he decided the moment he woke them up that morning. He was the great Hero Garp. He did what he wanted, regardless of anyone elses feelings on the matter.

Luffy continued to glower at Ace, it was one thing to spit on him that he may have been able to forgive, but he spat on Leo! How dare he do anything so gross to his little sister! If Garp expected Luffy to share his little sister, especially with such a jerk, then he had another thing coming.

"Try and get along" Garp ordered as he hit Luffy over the head for his growling, placing a stern hand on Leo's shoulder

'When the Grand Line freezes over' Leo wanted to mutter

"You think this is settled?!"Dadan screamed, this arrogant man didn't honestly believe he could just waltz on it, dump two more brats in her care then just go back to his life?! Well he had another thing coming!

The dark glare Garp pinned them with had their resole crumbling faster than wet sand,

"We'll look after them!" Dadan promised, bowing deeply.

"Great, then my business here is done" And like a switch Garp was back to his cheerful old self "I'll come to visit when I have time" so probably never.

While the adults finished their negotiations, Dadan trying to get some sort of compesation out of Garp, Ace finally moved from his perch on the rock, jumping down towards the ground. Leo made sure her rubbery meat-shield of a brother was firmly between her and the scary boy. But he didn't do anything...didn't even say anything. He strode past them, as if they didn't even exist...or like they were insects, not even worth of his notice. That sparked something in Leo's chest, overpowering the fear, while Luffy followed his path still glaring, Leo stuck her tongue out at the boys back. What a rude jerk!

Leo glanced up at her brother, his face set in determined. A wave of exhaustion fell upon the girl, whatever he had planned it was likely going to end in disaster. And at this point she had two choices, she could follow behind him, letting him drag her along in his insane plans...or she could stay behind and find herself a nice dark corner to maybe nap in.

Luffy made her decision for her, turning around her grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers. He offered her a wide reassuring grin, he had a plan and like hell was he going to leave her behind again. Never again.

"Come on" He tugged her towards the bandits hut,

His sister just let out a groan, allowing herself to be tugged along. She couldn't help the grin that started to spread across her face, whatever he had planned...well it couldn't be that bad.

Luffy peaked inside first, after determining it was safe he stepped inside, Leo trailing along after him. It was a fairly large empty room, with only a fire pit and a pot hanging above it in the center of the room. The bedrooms must have been through one of the doors along the back of the room. No sign of Ace...or anyone for that matter.

"Where'd he go?" Luffy wondered aloud as he strode further inside, letting go of his sisters hand to let her explore herself.

Before they could get too far an arm wrapped around Leo's neck, a knife pressing against her scarred cheek. She barely had time to let out a shriek of shock when another bandit grabbed Luffy, holding a knife to his throat. Well this wasSudden an arm wrapped around Leo's neck, a knife being held up to her face, she let out s yell of surprise, freezing in fear. A group of other bandits, surronded them, another man holding Luffy in a similar position,

"If you don't wanna die, then fork over your cash" the man holding Luffy growled

"We don't have any money!" Luffy cried as he struggled to get out of the mans arms,

"Then call you parents and make 'em bring some cash" the bandit holding Leo added,

"We don't have any" Leo whimpered, completely frozen solid

"We only have Granddad" Luffy added as he tried tugging his head away.

"Then call your gramps here! What's his name?" the first man spoke again

"Garp-san"The smaller bandit with a white turban who had been with Dadan outside informed the bandits...Magra?...Kobra?...dogra?

The mention of Garp's name left the bandits grip to go slack, no...it wasn't...these kids couldn't be...

"These kids are..." one man voiced aloud in disbelief

"They're going to be living with us from now on" Dogra continued on.

The general reaction seemed to be a mixture of shock and fear, not only did they have two more brats to look after but they were _Garp's_ grandchildren of all people, who knew what kid of monsters they were!. Finally fed up, having reached the edge of what little patience she had, Leo wiggled a little to get her head free, an easy enough task now that the hand holding the knife had dropped down to the bandits side, then bit down as hard as she could on the bandits arm. Which was pretty hard. Her sharp milk teeth sank into the bandits flesh, easily slicing through the skin, the reaction was instant, the man howled in pain, yanking his arm away while shoving Leo away from him.

She snapped her teeth at him again as she pushed herself up, dusting herself off. The man holding Luffy learned from his fellow bandits mistake, releasing Luffy soon after.

Once the reality sunk in, the complains started to fly as the men shouted at Dogra, at each other and at anyone who would listen really. This wasn't a day care! it wasn't their job to look after snot nosed brats! The noise crew louder and louder until Dadan finally slammed a massive basket of meat on the ground. The pile of food was always as big as Dadan was!

"Shut it you scumbags!" she screamed at them, "It's time for dinner!"

Completely forgetting about the children the bandits dove forward towards the food, the real chaos beginning. The sight and smell of meat had Luffy's eyes lighting up in stars.

"I want some meat too!" he tried making a grab for the food as well, only to have a bandit slam his small rubbery body to the ground, jumping over his head to get to the food. Sensing the danger Leo pushed herself against a wall, letting Luffy make all the food grab attempts. Anything he got his hands on he'd share with her anyway, no point endangering herself as well. She watched in horror as the men fought over meat like starved dogs.

"Didn't you eat already?!" Two men were literally yanking a bit of meat between them with their teeth!

"It wasn't enough!" the other spat back.

One bandit pinned Luffy to the ground growling "I won't lose to this kid!" It was horrible to watch, every time Luffy would gain any ground he was shoved back, shoved down. Stood on, yanked shoved. Nothing he did yielded any success. Not even when he tried to stretch an arm out to grab the last small scrap of meat in the basket, which was promptly swallowed down by an actual dog. Apparently the bandits had a dog as well.

"A dog?" he sounded so heart broken at the loss of food.

With the meat well and truly gone and sulked back to Leo's side, making sure she wasn't hurt in the chaos. They children noticed the bandits had started finding places to sit, it didn't take long to learn why when they spotted bowels of rice being hand around. Luffy tugged her towards the fire pit, where it was warmest, sitting them both down when a small bowel of rice and a glass of water was placed in front of them. Leo stared at the megar meal while Luffy downed his on one mouthful, picking up her shop sticks she started to shovel small bites into her mouth. She couldnt' remember the last time she had eaten...was it that morning? or lunch the day before... while she mused Luffy held his bowel out towards Dadan.

"Another bowl, pops another bowl!" he demanded

"I'm a woman!" Dadan snapped, "And don't you realize where you've been left?!"

"No" Luffy replied simply

Leo shook her head, Garp hadn't told them anything, all she knew it was deep in the mountains and very far away from her beloved ocean

"Well then I'll tell you" she leaned down towards them, "This is the hideout of the mountain bandits who rule Mr Corvo, the Dadan Family"

"Mountain bandits? I hate those guys" Luffy stated bluntly

Smacking her forehead, Leo grumbled to herself about idiot brothers, she was unsure if she wanted to edge away or towards her brother, at this point she wasn't sure which way was safer. When Dadan slammed a knife into the ground in front of Luffy she decided away was safer.

"Shut up you brat! It's already a pain in the ass raising you! If you don't want to be here, that's fine by us! Just go somewhere and die like an animal!" Leo shot a glare towards the bandit, it wasn't like they decided to be here, they had about as much voice as Dadan had

"I'm still hungry" Luffy moaned, staring longingly at his empty bowl, completely ignoring the Bandit leader's words.

Leo stared down at her own half eaten bowl, she knew she should be starving right now, she really hadn't been eating that much lately...but her stomach gave an uncomfortable twist. She really wasn't all that hungry any more...she never really was hungry a lot any more anyway. She held out the half eaten bowl towards her brother

"You can have mine Nii-chan" she offered quietly

Luffy snapped his gaze from her bowel of food to her, shaking his head, pushing the bowl back to her

"I can't take your food imouto..." he tried protesting, as hungry as he was it was bad to take food away from his sister.

She then forced a wide smile onto her face, closing her eyes as she knew it didn't reach her eyes,

"I'm fine, I'm really not that hungry anyway" she insisted, "Half a bowl has me feeling quite full actually" she was actually impressed with how chipper she sounded.

It took him a moment, but he slowly took the bowl, eating it much more slowly than his own, glancing at her every few seconds in case she changed her mind, deciding she was in fact still hungry. But even after the half bowl his stomach rumbled on,

"I want some meat" he whined

Dadan just laughed and his whining,

"You gotta earn your food" she said, "The life of a mountain bandit is harsh and starting tomorrow we'll work you half to death! Cleaning, laundry, shoe polishing and weapon polishing" the list of chores went on and on. Leo just grew grimmer and grimmer, she wasn't going to be allowed to continue her depressing routine afte rall...the alternative sounded far worse than just wasting the day away.

"And listen...you're not gonna say a single word to Garp about the stuff we make you do" Leo almost wanted to laugh, as if anyone could 'make' Luffy do anything he didn't want to. "One bowl of rice and one glass of water a day, that's all I'm giving you, anything else you'll have to get for yourselves. You'll have to raise yourself to be strong"

"Alright" was Luffy's response. Leo almost laughed at the shock on the womans face

"You're fine with that?!" Dadan fell over in her shock, really not expecting that response, she turned to Leo, "You as well?!" she demanded. Leo rose an eyebrow at her, before shrugging, "It's really no different to how things were before to be honest" Luffy nodded in agreement. Although before they had Makino providing them with a steady supply of food...maybe they could find a way back to Foosha village?

"You should be crying by now!" Dadan stared at them confused, they should be begging! upset by the harsh treatment...but they didn't even blink at it!

"Granddad threw me into the jungle once, earthworms, frogs, snakes, mushrooms...if it's a forest then there's plenty of stuff to eat" Leo nodded along to her brothers words, and if they could find a river and better yet a coast line then they'd be sweet. The ocean had plenty to provide if you knew where to look.

"Besides, we're going to be pirates one day! So we gotta deal with at least this much!" Luffy reasoned

Dadan had appeared to have passed out, and had somehow lodged herself into the floor, the childrens bold statements were too much for her current state of mind. First Garp, and how these two insane kids? It was too much for her. Luffy's attention was pulled away from Dadan, who was becoming less interesting by the minute, when he noticed Ace lurking out the door.

"Where's he off to?" he asked aloud, turning to Leo, who only shrugged.

With a nod he stood, holding out a hand for Leo. She stared up at her brothers bright eyes, he was giving her the choice...she could continue as she had been, stay behind, lock herself away from the world...she took his warm hand, allowing him to pull her up. Or she could actually do something instead of letting the dark fog suffocate her.

"Oi wait!" Luffy called after Ace. Even after the door was shut in his face, he just shoved it open following the other boy out, Leo hesitated as she stood in front of the door, the blinding light of the sun shining through. Bracing herself she took a step outside. Gramps had given the chance of a new start...might as well take it. And make the old man regret ever placing them with those bandits.


	4. Chapter 4

Now following her brother out the door was one thing, it was just out the door, but it was sometime else entirely to follow him as he chased after Ace into the dark depths of the forest. She could still turn around, still go back inside and back to her lonely existence...if she stepped through the tree line she'd be committing herself to Luffy's side, where ever that may take them. It was a terrifying idea, every possible horrible outcome shot past her eyes, her mind twisting even the tiniest of things into something horrid. Then Luffy stopped walking, turning with a frown when he noticed Leo wasn't following,

"Come on imouto! or we'll lose him!" He grinned at her.

And with that one bright grin, the clawing anxiety was washing from her chest, brushed away like it was never really there. With a determined nod, she jogged to his side, with a courage she was surprised to learn she still had. With his sister firmly by his side the two set off in search of the older boy. It didn't take long to find him, he'd climbed to the stop of the same boulder they first met him on. With narrowed eyes she edged behind Luffy, just in case he wanted to spit at them again.

Ace watched them with those cold black eyes, as Luffy walked closer to the boulder until he was right beneath him.

"I'm Luffy!" He greeted with none of the earlier aggression, "I'm not angry that you spat at us anymore!" Not entirely true, Leo was still pissed off about it truth be told, but she was willing to let it go.

"After all, it's nothing to get worked up about!" she found herself saying, almost laughing when Shanks own words came to mind,

"Yeah! We should be friends!" Luffy carried on.

That struck a cord in Leo's chest, the clawing feelings slowly returning, sensing her moment of weakness...sure Luffy was remembering her now, but how long before he decided pursuing Ace's friendship was more important? How long until she was left behind because she just couldn't keep up? Because she knew her brother, of course, she did, she had known him her entire life, as short as it was. She knew him better than anyone else did, better than their grandpa, better than Shanks or even Makino. And she knew exactly how this was going to go down, he was going to chase Ace, every day for as long as he had to until the older boy either killed him or gave in...and she knew she wasn't going to be able to keep up with his pace, and he could only slow down so much for her because it started to eat away at his nerves.

He had set his mind on becoming Ace's friend...and a growing part of her wondered what place did she have? And if they did, when they did, where did that place her? When would Luffy decide the chase's were 'too dangerous' for his little sister, when would he decide that her lack of powers were slowing him down too much? Because without a doubt, this Ace was not going to just lay down and accept Luffy's affection.

Ace's next actions just confirmed exactly what he thought of the younger kids offer of friendship. With incredible strength, he kicked the base of a tree, and again and again until the wood splintered beneath his feet until it finally broke, the with one final kick he sent the snapped tree flying towards the two. Instinct kicked in for Leo at that point, urging her to jump out of the way, another fallen tree (this one without the help of a 10-year-old with anger issues) protecting her from the bouncing tree. Luffy was not so lucky. One would think years of dodging gramps would have honed his dodging abilities...apparently not.

Catching him square in the middle it carried Luffy on its destructive path until it came to stop at a tall rock face, crushing him between the two hard things. Even though she could see it happening from miles, she couldn't help the cry of shock that left her mouth when the tree stopped with a horrid thud. Logically she knew he was fine, being made of rubber and all being crushed was no longer an issue Luffy faced. Still she couldn't help but worry.

"Oh Nii-chan" she mumbled as she made her way to the where the tree and stopped, climbing on top of it, before turning her back to the rock face, planting her feet against the log. With a grunt she pushed her back against the rock, trying to force her feet, and by extension the tree away from her. The wood beneath her groaned quietly, moving only a little bit under her efforts,

"Nii-chan I could use your help with this" she called through grit teeth, "If you can push from down there that'd be fantastic"

It took a few minutes, but finally, the tree edged forward enough to allow Luffy to stretch his arms out, gripping the top of the cliff face to yank himself out. Leo let herself slump against the rock face as the tree rocked back into place.

"I don't think he likes us" Leo pointed out, as Luffy flopped down beside her

"He just doesn't know us yet!" Luffy declared as he stood, brushing his pants off,

"You're going to chase after him aren't you" she sighed, rubbing her face tiredly, wondering to herself if it was too late to find a nice dark corner to curl up into.

Luffy didn't immediately answer, instead he watched his little sister, trying hard to wrap his head around her mood swings, he knew she was down more times than she was up, he'd have to be blind not to notice! but times like these had him stumped, when she was fine one moment then down the next. He wanted to fix whatever it was that was hurting her...but it wasn't something he could hit, if he could hit it then it'd be so much easier...These last few weeks training with their gramps had been...agonizing. The loneliness that came from their separation was more painful than any punch.

That's when the light-bulb in his head went off, of course! how had he not figured it out earlier! If he was feeling the deep ache of loneliness, then of course she was as well! He still couldn't figure out how the loneliness was causing her moods, but that didn't matter! If he found a way to cure her loneliness, then she'd be better as well! And besides, Makino was always telling them they needed to make friends outside of each other.

Silently he made himself and Leo a promise, one he would never ever break.

"No, _we_ are going to chase after him" he corrected loudly, "You've been drinking sea water again if you think I'm leaving you behind again!"

She snapped her gaze up to her brother, not truly believing she heard his words correctly,

"Besides if there's only two of us it's easy for one of us to be lonely, if there are three of us then it's just not possible!" he didn't bother to explain his logic, he didn't need to, not to her.

His words drew a moment of clarity for her as well, a small sad smile growing on her face, she wasn't the only one who was suffering from their separation. It took a few more moments before the rest of his sentence hit here, with a pout she crossed her arms,

"You drink sea water one time and he never lets you live it down" she mutters, before shoving him off the log onto the ground. Luffy let out a yelp, rolling on his back to glare up at her. With new life and determination flickering in her chest she offered him a cheeky grin.

"Well what are you just lying around for?" she teasingly asked, "We've got us a friend to catch!" and somehow convince into being their friend.

Luffy's own grin grew at her words, bouncing to his feet he threw his arms in the air,

"Yosh! Let's go then!" he cheered

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

After climbing down from the log, Luffy started his search in the direction he saw Ace go, Leo following quickly behind, catching up easily. While it was true she was initially a faster runner than Luffy, he had a hell of a lot more stamina than she did. They soon spotted the other raven haired boy crossing a rope bridge across a very deep canyon. The older boy didn't notice he was being followed until the bridge began to swing beneath his feet. Spinning around he watched as Luffy walked further out. Leo herself kept her feet on solid land, not really trusting the old ropes.

Turning on his feet Ace marched towards the younger boy, prompting a wide grin. Leo felt her stomach sink, Luffy didn't see the murderous look in Ace's eyes, he kept grinning thinking he had made progress. Before she could shout a warning Ace swung the pipe he carried, hitting Luffy in the stomach and launching him over the side of the bridge, straight down towards the bottom of the canyon,

"Nii-chan!" Leo screamed rushing out onto the bridge,falling to her knees she gripped the rope tightly as she watched her brother fly down into the deep crack in the earth.

She snapped her head towards Ace, white hot fury burning in her own black eyes,

"I don't know what he saw in you" she spat her words like hot oil from her mouth, "But he's a blind fool because you are nothing short of a heartless monster"

She stood, shoving him back harshly kind of hoping he would topple over the edge. No such luck. Turning tail she began to run back in the direction of the bandits hide out,fighting back the tears that wanted to pour down her face. Her breaths came out in harsh dry sobs, tearing away at her chest as she tried to breath. She slowed to a stop when she reached the tree line, not even bothering to fight the tears any more. What was she going to do now? Luffy was...he was...

She shook her head, trying to throw the thought from her mind. He wasn't dead. Unless he was unlucky enough to land in the thin line of blue, which she assumed to be a river, his rubber powers should have saved him from the impact...meaning all he had to do was find his way back! Getting lost trying to find him herself would help no one...but still there must be some way she could help! Then the idea struck her.

Wiping her face dry, and probably failing, she straightened her back. She knew what she had to do now. With one final mental pep talk she marched forward, head held high as she walked straight into the bandits den.

"Oi the brat's back!" one of the bandits on watch called out, she ignored them, continuing to march forward straight into the hut.

Once inside she quickly scanned the room, making quick work of locating the items she was going to need. Her fairly noisy search caught the others attention,

"Oi brat where the hell have you been!" Dadan growled when she noticed the girl, "You had chores!"

"Was busy" she shot back, as she reached over a box to wrap her fingers around the thing she was looking for, she grinned to herself as she held the candle up triumphantly, none of the lamps were available, either being broken or used, so a candle would have to do.

"Well you can do them now!" the bandit leader growled back

"Still busy"

The woman grew angrier, grabbing the girl by the front of her shirt lifting her up so they were face to face,

"Then you won't be getting ANY food tonight!" Dadan threatened with a grin, Ha! she had the brat now

Leo just stared back with a defiant frown,

"Fine then" she shrugged uncaring.

The bandit's grip loosened, allowing Leo to wiggle out of her grasp. Dadan expected anger, protest, maybe even a little crying! She got none of that! The girl just bent over, picking up her 'supplies' before continuing on her original path. With a deep frown Dadan watched as the young girl walked out the door, heading towards the forest edge. Sitting herself down at the tree line she placed the candle next to her before crossing her legs and resting her head on her fist.

"And what exactly is it that you're doing brat?!" Dadan huffed as she stood by the huts entrance with crossed arms,

"Waiting" Leo shot back, not tearing her gaze from the forest.

Dadan really was getting sick of this girls one worded answers,

"For what exactly?" She asked again, her paitence wearing thin. If Leo had turned around she would have seen the numerous veins starting to pop out from her forehead.

"I have the wait for Luffy" she finally explained...a little bit, "He's managed to get himself lost...so I gotta wait until he gets himself unlost and comes back to me"

"What makes you think sitting in the tree line will bring him back?" Dadan shot back,

"Because Nii-chan _always_ finds a way back to me. Just gotta stay in one place" Leo nodded, sounding so sure of herself. It was kind of astonishing to Dadan that the girl could have such unshakable faith in her brother...it took a few moments for the entirety of the sentence to process in her brain...the brat was...lost. Growling the bandit boss turned on her heel, it was only day one and the brat had already gotten himself lost! Whatever, it wasn't her problem any more. And if the other one wanted to sit outside and freeze or starve...well that wasn't her problem either.

'Besides' she thought with a smirk, 'the little brat's gotta cave once her stomach starts rumbling' and Dadan wasn't in the generous mood tonight. If the brat wanted to starve, then she could.

The hours wore on, the sun rising and beating down with its harsh rays, yet the girl did not budge. She remained in the exact same position, only occasionally moving her legs to stretch them out when they started to fall asleep. At first the bandits tried to make her do her chores, giving orders and such. One poor idiot made the mistake of trying to physically move her, he soon learned she could bite very hard for someone so small. After nearly losing his fingers everyone came to the collective agreement to leave her be.

And as it does the sun began to dip, taking the light and warmth with it. Just as the insects of dusk started to awaken Ace finally made his return. He impassively walked straight past her, only offering a side glance as he passed her, not entirely sure what she was doing...not that he cared. Leo didn't even offer him that. Her unyielding gaze not once flickering from the dark depths of the forest.

"Hey Ace has returned!" The man on watch announced.

With him he had brought a feast of fish, some almost as large as Dadan herself! While she didn't turn to watch, Leo knew by the cheers and hollers of the bandits that they were excited about meat once again being on the menu. Her own stomach gave a traitorous growl. There were plenty of nut trees around, she could easily gather a handful to snack on without having to move too far from her vigil...except, she glanced at a new of the innocent looking nuts, she couldn't quite remember which ones she could eat, and which ones would make her throat swell up...

"Hey Ace, where's Luffy?" the mention of her brothers name pulled Leo from her musing over nut allergies, "Wasn't he with you?"

"Hell if I know" the boy muttered as he dropped the fish down, marching inside.

Leo felt a swell of anger and hatred burst into her chest, he knew exactly where Luffy was, down the canyon he kicked him! Taking a deep breath she tried to let the feelings steam away...when Luffy got back, not if when she kept telling herself, no doubt he'd forgive the boy instantly...unfortunately it was going to take Leo a little longer to forgive the older boy...although...maybe calling him a monster was a bit much...Shaking her head, she pushed the thoughts from her mind, instead trying to focus on the task ahead. Which would be far easier if it weren't so mind numbingly dull.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Soon the smell of cooking fish filled the air, and like the night before the room inside fell to chaos as the men squabbled over the food. She could hear it, even far out by the tree line...she didn't understand what the need to fight was...from what she saw they had plenty for all to eat well if they weren't greedy about it and rationed things out! adults were so weird. Her stomach grumbled sadly at the smell of food, but her resolve remained strong. She knew her brother, he was strong, much stronger than her...but his sense of direction was terrible. She was going to sit here and wait for him, and nothing and nobody was going to disturb her from her watch.

She waited until the sun had well and truly set before lighting the candle, sitting it in front of her. No point in wasting the precious wax while there was still some light. Luckily they were still in summer, the nights were warm enough that she could sit out in the dark forest without a need for a blanket.

"He's probably dead you know" It was one of the bandits, she glanced at him...she wasn't even sure he _had_ mentioned his name, either was she didn't remember it, "He's not coming back" the bandit continued as he placed a small bowel of rice and the water next to her. Apparently Dadan wasn't as cold hearted as she first appeared...

"He'll be back" She didn't turn her head to acknowledge him, "Nii-chan always comes back"

Shaking his head the bandit turned away, heading back inside to join the drinking that had started. Once she was sure she was alone again, Leo picked up the bowel, slowly scooping up clumps of rice with her hands, popping it into her mouth as she continued to scan the tree line. She preferred the cliff faces by the ocean...you could actually _see_ a horizon, in this damned forest it was just more trees.

The evening dragged on and the bandits became progressively more and more drunk, and the drunker they became the louder they were. At one point Leo heard Dadan stating just how much she didn't care if the boy was dead or never returned. Wasn't her problem, she didn't care. Leo tried hard not to listen, but it wasn't easy considering the older woman was practically shouting it from the roof tops. It was bad enough hearing how unwanted she was, how much of a mistake she was, that she shouldn't even be alive. It was unbearable to hear anyone say the same about her brother...Luffy was her whole world, and for someone to be so...indifferent about his fate. It hurt.

The sound of the door opening had her briefly glancing over, Ace stepped out with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, no doubt he was going to use the bath thing she had seen around the back of the house. He didn't even glance her way. Tiny tendrils of guilt started to crawl up her spine, she knew she had let her anger get away from her, he may have been a huge jerk (the biggest, stupidest jerk she'd even met) he didn't deserve to be called a monster...

Having left the door ajar, Leo then heard Dadan's quieter words (though still fairly loud in her opinion)

"In my opinion, it'd be best if he just went somewhere and died. Then we could tell Garp it was an accident!" Leo took back her earlier thoughts, the bandit was as heartless as she first appeared, "This is what they mean by 'A devil's child has a devil's luck' He is the child of a devil as well!"

The young girl frowned, confused by Dadan's words, Luffy wasn't the child of a devil...ok well he was, but he didn't know that and the bandits defiantly didn't know that. Leo couldn't quite remember how she knew their father wasn't a respected man. (She guessed the knowledge came from the vague memories from her life before Dawn Island) As far as the bandits knew they were just the grandchildren of Garp...so if not Luffy...they couldn't be talking about Ace could they? Leo let her mind wonder, pondering the possibilities...then who could Ace's father be...and how bad do you have to be to be considered a devil?

**0o0o0oo0o0oo0o**

The candle and burned out long before dawn, leaving nothing but a puddle of hard wax behind. It was only then, when the sun's rays broke through the tree line, blurring her vision did Leo move. Pushing herself onto unsteady legs she winces as he knees creaked in agony as feeling flooded back into them. She knew no one was awake yet, it was far too quiet and peaceful. Limping inside she stepped over passed out bandits, wincing as her legs remembered how to move. Grabbing a thin blanket she stuffed a couple more candles and a piece of stale bread into it, before turning back around to resume her post. She blinked in shock when she came to face Ace, who stood in the door way of what she assumed was his room. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out...what on earth would she even say? So she closed her mouth, walking straight past him and back outside. Setting her supplies down she spread her legs out in front of her for the time being.

When Ace walked passed her that morning she kept her eyes on her goal, missing the glance he shot towards her. Cold and glaring...and a tiny bit curious. Today was the day Dadan swore she'd get the child to do the chores she was ordered to. Any time a bandit _did_ manage to move her (many ended up with sore ribs and bite marks for the efforts) she would quickly return to her spot, resuming her watch.

On the third day the bandits were coming to realize that she was not moving. Sure Dadan still made an effort to make her 'pull her weight' but she failed every time. It was that night that she finally decided to go through with her threat of withholding food. All food.

Day five is when Leo's fragile body had started to hit it's limits. Five days and nights with no sleep, three days with no food. Her body shook violently as she struggled just to stay awake and upright. She couldn't even muster the energy to get up and replace her candles any more. She hadn't even noticed some of the hot wax had dripped onto her feet and ankles, everything hurt...what was one more hurt.

But still she couldn't move, because Nii-chan would return, and if she wasn't keeping watch then how else would he find the right way home?

By day seven her body was on the verge of quitting for her, she slumped forward, unable to keep herself upright as her eyelids fluttered, struggling to remain open. Even blinking was agony. She closed her eyes for a moment, giving them just a little rest. She wasn't sleeping...just having...a little...rest.

She startled awake when the dog the bandits kept started barking, frowning she squinted, trying to force her eyes to focus on whatever had caught it's attention. Fuck she hoped it wasn't another squirrel. It took a few moments for her eyes to focus on what she was seeing, and a few moments more for her brain to process it. A tired smile spread across her face as she forced her weak and shaking body to stand, stumbling in her brother's direction

"Nii-chan" she mumbled happily as her knees gave out from under her, sending her crashing face first into the dirt. This, she decided, was an excellent place for a nap.

Deciding it was probably a wise idea to investigate what had the dog all worked up about, the bandits on watch almost fell over in shock when they spotted Luffy standing in the middle of the path, panting heavily. His clothes were torn and he was covered in scratches and bruises and dirt.

"Boss! Boss! Wake up!" one ran inside shouting

"Who's there?" Dadan mumbled still half asleep as her underlings forced her up, pushing her in the direction of outside.

When the bruised and bleeding figure of Luffy came into her vision, the shock to her heart was enough to wake her up completely,

"It's you!" she screamed in shock.

"That Luffy's came back!" one of the bandits shouted into the hideout in announcement

"That kid he's still alive!" many of the bandits scrambled to the door way to see for themselves, and sure enough the kid was alive.

Once the initial shock wore off, Dadan marched over to Luffy, grabbing his face as she lifted him up, giving him a little shake,

"Where have you been?!" She demanded

"I was being chased around by wolves at the bottom of the valley" was Luffy's tired reply

"The bottom of the valley?! Why'd you go down there?!" Dadan screeched

Luffy just stared forward, giving her no answer. He wasn't going to rat Ace out, he wanted to be his friend after all. Dadans frustrations grew when she received no answer,

"Boss?!" one of her men called out

"Oh what now?!"Dadan snapped as she spun to see what more could possibly be wrong.

"It's just...Leo's finally passed out..." he stuttered as he pointed to the unconscious girl.

Dadan snapped her head around to see that, yes Leo had in fact finally passed out, and had chosen the ground as her napping place. With a growl Dadan dropped Luffy to the ground, before grabbing him by the back of the shirt. Leaning down she grabbed Leo as well, the sleeping girl moaning for a moment, but remained fast asleep

"Neeh, wha's wrong with imouto..." Luffy slurred as he tried to fight through the exhaustion himself

"The damn brat has been sitting outside waiting for you to return" Dadan growled as she marched inside, "Idiot wore herself out" Slamming open the door to Ace's small room she tossed the children in

"Now sleep!"

And like a light Luffy was out of it.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

When Leo woke the next morning she was more than a bit confused, last she remembered she was whispering sweet nothings to the cold hard dirt...now her face was pressed into something soft and warm...very warm. Pushing herself up she inspected the soft warm thing...it was a body! A quick glance up at the bodies face confirmed her suspicions, and like that all of her worries and built of anxiety washed away,

"Nii-chan! You're back!" she screamed happily as she threw herself back down, hugging him tightly,

"Good to see you too imouto" Luffy laughed after recovering from the unexpected wake up call.

They quickly dressed and Leo made quick work of patching up Luffy's injuries, wrapping them tightly in bandages. They left the room in time to see Ace leaving for the morning,

"You're going out somewhere again today Ace?! Take us with you! Let's be friends!" Luffy immediately shouting upon spotting him

Ace looked back for a second before breaking into a run, Luffy did the logical thing and ran after him, Leo not far behind. Sitting still made running a bit of a task, she stumbled along behind Luffy. Despite everything she couldn't help but laugh as she ran after the two boys, the sheer joy of having her brother back still filling her.

"Boss! They're chasing after Ace again!" The Bandit on watch shouted down to Dadan,

"Hey! Your supposed to be doing chores!" Dadan shouted after them, which of course they completely ignored.

They chased after Ace for a good while, taking sharp turns and ducking under hollowed out trees trying to keep up, Luffy was having as easier time than Leo, but she swore if they really were going to be doing this then she wasn't going to slow her brother down, she run beside him like an equal...when she regained the ability to use her legs that came to a stop in front of a wide body of water, Ace had somehow managed to get across without getting wet or eaten by crocodiles,

"Ace! Let's be friends!" Leo could hear Luffy ahead of her, when she finally reached her brother he was struggling not to get eaten by said crocodiles,

"Nii-chan" she cried out,quickly grabbing a vine and throwing it out for him to reach and tug him away from the hungry reptiles.

Once back on safe land the siblings let out a combined sigh,

"I really don't think he likes us..." Leo muttered once more. They decided to spend the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to get across the crocodile infested river. It was Leo who suggested they climb over using the thick vines.

The routine went on for days, every morning Luffy would chase after Ace, and every day Leo would follow. They'd get a little further before being thrown into yet another obstacle. Luffy would try and get past it, and fail both of them losing sight of Ace. They would then spend the rest of the day figuring a way across. Sometimes it was Leo who found the answer (most days it was Leo) other days it was faced everything thrown at them together, be it falling rocks, angry birds, snakes or crocodiles. Every day for 3 months, rain or shine. Some days Leo didn't want to follow he brother, because despite the fact her life was better (now she wasn't so lonely) there were still days where she would wake up and just couldn't pull together the energy to care.

Those were the hardest days, when she could barely drag herself out of bed, because there was just no point. It was those days Luffy was the one who figured out the answer, who pulled them through. They were hard, but together they solidered on.

"He got away this time, but not tomorrow" he would promise.

Every day they'd get a little further, push a little more, got a little stronger, a little wiser. Then one day the ran out of obstacles, to the siblings great surprise when they walked through the tree line they didn't find some deadly creature or trap, they didn't even find more trees! They had reached the end of the forest.

"We did it...we actually did it" Leo stared in amazement,

"Haha! I told ya we would!" Luffy grinned at her

"You did...that you did" she muttered as she walked closer to the edge to gaze out,

"What is this place?" she muttered to herself as she stared out into the grey mess of rubble and trash, scrunching her nose as the stench of rot hit her with full force

"It's where Ace has been coming every day!" Luffy answered, so sure of himself,

"Well then...we best find him" she muttered again. Something didn't feel quite right to her, something just felt...off. Something bad was going to happen that day, she just knew it. If only she knew HOW bad.


	5. Chapter 5

Leo edged closer to the treeline, not entirely sure if she was willing to trade the wilderness she knew for of the forest, not sure if she was willing to trade one wilderness for another. While she didn't exactly _like_ the jungle, it was at least familiar. She knew exactly what she was dealing with and how to react, poisonous plants? no problems! Man eating crocodiles? Easy! But this...this vast terminal of trash, this was something completely unknown to Leo, and it set her on edge. Who knew what dangers lay among the rot, what kind of people lurked beneath the grey. No one good, she knew that much.

She inched closer to Luffy, grabbing his elbow and holding on tightly, there was no way in hell she was letting herself be separated from her brother in this strange terrifying place.

"Luffy I don't think..." he turned and offered her a wide grin, before taking off in the direction of the interesting new playground, giving Leo two choices; be dragged along into the scary dump yard or let go of Luffy's arm and possibly be left behind in his excitement. She went with option three, she let go of his elbow and instead took hold of his hand, letting herself be dragged along. To be completely honest, the area itself wasn't that bad, sure the smell made her nose hairs burn and her eyes water, and the ground beneath her was unstable. Years of rubble, broken wood, metal and concrete building up to make mountains...but she found it was easy enough to move around in...it was actually a it like trying to walk across crumbly sand stone. Her heart suddenly yearned for the cliffs and the ocean, maybe after they found Ace they could go looking for the ocean next.

Leo wasn't entirely sure what they were doing in the stinking, steaming terminal, there was no way this is where Ace came every day...it just seemed too stupid for something the older boy would do. The young girl caught glimpses of people beneath the rubble and trash, this isn't the sort of place that bred a decent kind of person, surely Ace had the brains to avoid this area, sticking to the jungle where the only thing you had to worry about was the animals. And the plants. And the rocks...ok maybe not as safe as she first thought.

"Ace!" Luffy's sudden shout startled Leo, her heart nearly bursting from her chest, "Oi Ace!"

"Niichan!" she hissed, "Stop it, it's not a good idea to be..." she never got to finish her scolding as a bit of concrete beneath Luffy's feet crumbled away, letting go of each others hands saved Leo from tumbling down the slope with him. Being made of rubber the fall barely fazed him, if he had taken his sister down with him she would have been far less lucky. "shouting so loudly in a place like this" she finished in a grumble to herself

"Oh what's that?" Luffy wondered aloud as he shook off the shirt from his hat, "Come on Leo! we need to check it out!"  
"Hold yer horses" Leo grumbled as she carefully scaled down the rubbish slope, easily moving from between bits of pipe and crumbly concrete and brick without disturbing it too much,

"Wow Leo! How do you manage to do that without falling or breaking anything?!" Luffy was quick to take her hand again once the two were reunited,  
"It's called 'watching where I step' and 'being careful" Leo teased poking him in the shoulder.

With a pout Luffy took off again, being careful to to go too fast, least he tug Leo's shoulder out of the joint, again. The continued their exploration of the bleak smelly place, looking under wooden and metal beams and checking in holes for any clue that Ace had been this way. There was none. Luffy went as far as to get himself stuck in a narrow gap between some concrete,

"He ain't here" Luffy concluded as he tried, and failed, to pull himself from the wall.

Leo let him struggle for a few moments, before squeezing around the back of the wall, pushing his head from the other side. It took some effort, her pushing and him pulling but his head eventually popped free

"I don't think he's anywhere in this trash heap...he's probably still in the forest," Leo reasoned, "We probably just took a wrong turn or something.

This was not a good enough answer for Ace, and not ready to give up yet he continued his efforts in locating the older boy,

"OI!" Luffy continued to call out "Where did you go?!ACE!"

As they wondered further and further into the grey terminal, the worse Leo began to feel, every nerve in her body was screaming at her to run, to return to the safety of the trees. The further in they went the more populated it became, foul looking men glancing at them with nasty grins and glints in their eyes. If Luffy noticed her grip on his hand and wrist were getting tighter he made no mention of it, he blissfully continued his search completely unaware of the potential danger they were in.

He was so focused in his search for Ace he didn't even notice the men running towards them, luckily Leo did. Throwing herself to the side, she yanked Luffy's arm, dragging him out of the way with her, just in time as well. The man was still forced to stop, and while they were probably saved from being accidentally stabbed by the mans dagger, now they seemed to be at risk from being stabbed on purpose.

"Get out of my way kid!" the dirty man snarled "If you don't get out of my way I'll..." he raised his dagger, but froze when the voices of the men chasing him shot over them,

"He ran this way!" the men shouted

Deciding dealing with the brats was not worth his life, the man darted off in another direction, swearing as he did so.

Leo's knees shook as she felt her chest tightening, that's it she couldn't do this any more, it was too much.

"Niichan I REALLY don't like this place" she whimpered as she tried to control her breathing, "I want to leave now"

She almost started crying when Luffy pulled his hands from hers, it was only the fact they moved to hold her face that kept her from breaking into sobs. Pressing his forehead against hers he offered a bright smile,  
"It's gonna be ok" He promised, "No matter what happens I won't let anything happen to you"  
"You swear?" she sniffed,  
"I swear on Shanks hat!" He declared

Nodding her head she closed her eyes, letting a few rogue tears fall, before wiping her running nose,  
"Well what are we waiting for" she opened her eyes offering him a weak smile, "We've got to find Ace before nightfall don't we?"

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

They spent most of the morning searching for Ace, looking anywhere and everywhere they could think of. In make-shift huts, under rock piles, they even got close to the massive walls at the end of the terminal, the guards at the gate stopped them from exploring further. It was nearly lunch time, if the rumblings of Luffy's stomach were accurate (and they always were), when they decided it was probably about time to give up for the day. Then out the corner of her eye she spotted the freckled bastard, running into the forest. She was going to kill him. and Luffy for making her spend the morning the the land of filth when all they had to do was wait in the forest, like she had said.

Unfortunately Luffy's excitement was contagious,  
"Come on Leo!" He cheered as he grabbed her hand once more, dragging her towards the forest.  
With a huff she followed, fighting the grin that was trying to spread across her face, she couldn't help it, after these many long months they'd finally caught up

Of course the moment they crossed back into the tree line both children realized that they should have been paying a bit more attention to where he was heading, they were back to square 's when Leo did something rather unusual, she took the lead. Shushing her brother, who blinked in surprise but listened anyway, he wasn't used to Leo being the one giving the orders...or making the decisions, she left that stuff to him. He grinned as she started to walk in slow circles, stepping carefully as her eyes scanned the area slowly, it was unusual but certainly not unwelcome.  
There it was, what she was looking for, the barely noticeable broken branch indicating something had been through,  
"This way" she declared as she continued to look for more of the boys trail, once she found the start of it, it was fairly easy to follow,  
"How do ya know?" Luffy bounced next to her, careful not to disturb her work.

"Broken twigs, moved rocks...you can't move through a forest without leaving some sort of trail" she offered Luffy a grin,  
"Woah" His eyes were practically sparkling, "How'd you learn to know that!"  
"uhhhh...hm" Leo blinked a moment, looking stumped before shrugging, "We've been following him for months...just kinda noticed things and picked it up from there"  
"Ahhh so it's a mystery" Luffy nodded in complete understanding,  
"Exactly" Leo nodded along.

Once Leo was on the boys trail he was easy enough to find, he really didn't seem too concerned about covering his tracks...you'd think after having the two of them chasing after him for so long he'd be more careful. He let his arrogance get in the way, believing there was just no way the two would ever be able to actually get this far. Leo couldn't wait to see that smug look he probably had be wiped off his face...he couldn't have that cold blank expression ALL of the time. Soon enough they heard voices...Leo slowed down, causing Luffy to slow beside her, glancing her her curiously. Voices? One was Ace...from the few sentences she'd heard the boy speak when he thought no one was listening it was absolutely Ace...the other voice, another boys, was unknown to her.

The siblings entered a small grassy clearing, looking around for the source of the voices, they should be right here! Luffy went to say something when they heard the boys again, from above? Leo glanced up at a thick tall tree, squinting she tried to make out the taller branches, lately she'd been noticing far away things were getting a bit difficult to focus on, but she shrugged it off when her eyes finally focused in on the two boys. There was Ace, and a blond boy wearing a blue top hat...they were sitting on the branch doing...well something she couldn't see.

"I wonder how much we need to buy a pirate ship?" She heard the blond ask Ace, they were buying a pirate ship? Did they want to be pirates as well?

"Who knows...hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions..." Ace replied "Whatever it is, we still got a long way to go"

"A pirate ship?!" Once again Luffy's brain to mouth filter failed him as he shouted up at the boys "Are you guys gonna be pirates?!" he called up to them,announcing their presence with his usual enthusiasm "So are we!"

Leo pinched her nose as her let out a low breath, personally she would have gone a more subtle approach,one less likely to startle the moody arse who showed already he had no problems kicking people off bridges, and his strange friend who would also probably kick them off a bridge. But Luffy was grinning and giggling...her stomach sank, this was not going to end well. Turning on her heel she walked away from the tree, planning on finding a better angle to watch the two dangerous boys. A mistake on her part. She completely missed them scrambling down the tree at a truly incredible speed. She turned quickly when she heard the unmistakeable sound of flesh hitting rubbery flesh as they both hit Luffy in the head dazing him,  
"Shut up!" the boys shouted.

Before she even had to chance to shout at them, or raise a fist in defense they rounded on her hitting her in the temple. Unlike her brother she didn't have the advantage of being made of rubber. As he vision faded into blackness she could have sworn she head the blond shouting at Ace,  
"You idiot you hit her too hard!" but she was sure it was probably just the forming concussion.

**0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o**

Regaining consciousness was not a fun experience, it never was after being knocked out. Her head was fuzzy and aching, her eyes watered from the brightness of the sun and for some reason she couldn't move her arms. Wiggling didn't help, it just made the hard bark digging into her back scrape along her skin. She frowned down at the ropes binding her to the tree...well that'd explain why she couldn't move...where on earth did they get the rope? she had to wonder.

"So this is where you've been going every day Ace?" Leo's chest loosened, allowing her to draw in the breath she didn't even realize she was holding, if Luffy was still able to make cheerful conversation, then he must be alright.

"Shut up" Ace snapped, ok maybe only one side of the conversation was cheerful.

Although he did make a good point, provoking the boys, or annoying them probably wasn't the greatest of ideas. While completely harmless if Luffy irritated the boys too much who knows what they'd do, they were essentially sitting ducks! caged ducks really

"So this is the Luffy guy and his weird sister you've been talking about" the blond kid wondered aloud.

The young girl couldn't help but puff up in offense,weird?! that's how the bastard described her? As Luffy's weird little sister? He had better hope she doesn't get out of these ropes, because when she did she was gonna kick his ass!

"You've been telling him about me?!" Luffy brightened instantly.

Leo felt something cold drop into her belly,her own offense forgotten, she didn't care what they said about her, at the end of the day it wouldn't matter...but she would not sit back and let them be so cruel to her brother! because, intentionally or not, the were getting Luffy's hopes up, which they'd been burst and stamp all over. And worst of all they wouldn't care, they wouldn't care if they hurt her sweet stupid brother, he was just some annoying bratty little kid that wouldn't leave them alone. She tried to force the words out of her mouth, tried to spit and shout and scream,but her tongue frozen and her throat seized. The squeezing anxiety in her chest just wouldn't loosen it's hold

"Yeah I've been complaining about how clingy you are!" Ace snapped at Luffy

"And how you never think about what you're doing!" Sabo added on, "and your sister follows you no matter how crazy or stupid it is!

The insults bounced right off Luffy, Leo blinked a little surprised...usually her brother would get all steamed up when being insulted, then he'd rant going on about needing to defend his honor as a man or some such bullshit...the young girl let her fingers brush against the sash wrapped around her waist, as well as she could with her arms trapped by her side, Luffy had changed so much in the previous months...and she hadn't even noticed...

"Doesn't he realize that we're insulting him?" Sabo frowned at Ace, was this kid really that dense

"Of course he does." Oh so now her voice would work she wanted to mutter, "He just doesn't care"

"Oh you're awake" the blond boy glanced at the smaller girl in surprise, he didn't expect her to be awake after the harsh blow so quickly. He wasn't really surprised by the heated glare shot his way, and he wasn't all that intimated...she was actually looked kind of cute glaring at him like that...

"They finally made it all the way here" Ace muttered, speaking mostly to the blond boy, but still loud enough for them to hear"And I made sure to avoid the paths that ordinary people can travel.."

"Knew it" Leo muttered to herself annoyed.

Her brother of course wasn't paying attention to what Ace was saying, nor did he seem too worried about finding a way to undo the ropes. Luffy had more important goals in mind,

"Hey you!" Luffy called out to the blond, trying to catch his attention "Are you Ace's friend?Be my friend too!"

Leo just groaned, leaning her sore head back against the tree, wonderful they had another idiot to chase after, she could understand _why_ Luffy would want to make another friend, but did it really have to be _these_ two, surely there had to be other children, ones who didn't kick people off bridges or punch people smaller than themselves"

"Shut your trap!" The blond snapped, "And stop calling me 'you'" he added on

"Then what are we supposed to call you?" Leo rolled her eyes, feeling more brave than she probably was

"yeah! so what's your name?!" Luffy nodded to his sisters statement

"Sa-I Won't tell you!" the boy cut himself off half way into his sentance,

"We should just call you 'Sa'" then Leo muttered to herself,

"Then how do you expect us to stop calling you 'you'" Leo pointed out.

But the blond opened his mouth to argue, before letting out a noise of frustration, turning his back to them he turned back to Ace with a frustrated frown,

"This is why I said you should just live here!, taking that round trip and training in the mountains each day just caused us a lot of trouble!" Leo suspected that by 'trouble' the older boys meant them.

"What are we going to do?" he bit his thumb, letting some of the worry he was feeling peak through the cracks

"Now that they know our secret" Ace started darkly, "I'm sure they'll just tell everyone if we let them go"

Leo's flushed red again, how dare they! they didn't even know them! they just _assumed_ they'd run off and tell everyone that the boys were hiding something in the tree and were planning on becoming pirates! Like they were no better than tattle tale and snitches! She wiggled more furiously trying to get an arm free so she could smack them when they got close enough.

"Let's kill them" Leo froze at Ace's words, taking a moment for her brain to fully process their words,

"Right let's do it" Sabo nodded

Looking back she often wondered how the boys didn't expect the reaction that came from the two younger children. Both Luffy and Leo began thrashing at the ropes, trying to tug themselves free as they shouted and screamed

"Please don't kill me!" Luffy cried out, with tears streaming his face "Someone save me! I don't want to die"  
"Don't you fucking dare touch us!" Leo howled, "I'll bite your noses off! HELP! These psychos are gonna kill us!"

The older boys jumped back at the sudden increase in volume and pitch of the noise, panic set in as they glanced towards the Grey terminal. They were way too close to the edge of the forest, fuck way too close! There was no way the two _wouldn't_ be heard! Soon enough the noise was going to attract curious eyes, and that was something they seriously could not afford.

The blond boy tried his best to quieten the two down, with no much luck

"You moron! Be quiet!" he snapped at Luffy, he considered placing a hand over Leo's mouth, but a glance at her teeth had him wisely decided otherwise,

"Sabo Hurry up and do it!" Ace ordered,

"Why do I have to do it?! You do it!" the boy, Sabo shot back in panic, "I've never killed anyone before!"

That much was obvious, as much as she disliked the two in that moment, deep down she knew the weren't murderers...they lacked something (or rather had something) that made murderers what they were...it was one thing to push someone off a bridge, it was another thing entirely to kill someone with your own two hands. Despite that knowledge she couldn't stop the nerve freezing panic and fueled her shouting.

"Please don't drop me in the river!" Luffy wailed. Oh gods, why did he blurt that?!

"Right! The River!" Ace sounded almost relieved

"Why'd he tell us?", his friend couldn't help but question

"Cause he's an idiot" was the obvious answer

If the boys noticed Leo getting significantly quieter no one commented on it, they probably did if their sigh of relief at the fact they only had to deal with Luffy's shouting now. Luffy was too far lost in his own panic to notice the warning signs

"Please someone save us!" he screamed

"Shut up!" Both boys shouted at once

And by some miracle Luffy did. The silence stretched on, before they heard it, the quiet noises of gasping hair and barely there sobs.  
"Leo!" Luffy tried twisting around, "You gotta breath!"  
It wasn't an easy task, the stress and fear had caused her chest to seize up. Tears streamed down Leo's face as she tried to gasp in air, but no matter how much air she tried to pull into her lungs it just wasn't enough, her lungs burned for oxygen,

"What's wrong with her?" It was Sabo who asked, slightly worried as they girl tried to sob and breathe at the same time.

"Leo remember what Makino always says!" Luffy forced his arm to the side, scraping along the bark of the tree, the rope rubbing against his rubbery skin. It hurt, but right now that didn't matter, with all his strength he continued to shove his arm around until it brushed against his sisters elbow. "Breathe in for 7, hold for 3 and out for five"

It was easier to hear her brothers voice through the fuzziness after feeling his warm hand brush against her elbow. She followed his voice, breathing in for seven seconds, holding it for three then breathing out for five. Ace and Sabo watched, Ace in disdain, Sabo more curiously, they had finally quietened down. Luffy turned all his attention and energy towards his sister, talking her quietly and calmly through the panic...it was fascinating to watch.

Unfortunately the damage had been done.

"I heard a voice from the forest" all four children froze as a man shouted into the trees, "A childs voice!"

It was almost enough to send Leo back into a paralyzing panic, she would have as well if the survival instinct didn't kick in, forcing her to shove down the panic.

"Oh No! Someone's coming" the blond, Sabo sounded extremely worried, which was doing nothing for her nerves.

"For now let's untie them" Ace quickly decided as he rushed forward to nimbly undo his impressive knots "If we don't get away from here, they'll find our treasure!" Treasure? that's why they were getting so worked about about the two of them being there, they were worried about bloody treasure?!

Once untied the older boys dragged Luffy and his sister towards some dense bushes, shoving them to the ground before diving down next to them. Leo took the opportunity to kick her leg out, catching Sabo in the side of the knee. The boy winced but made no noise. Good, he could suffer in silence. Shuffling closer to Luffy, his fingers instinctively entwined with hers, giving them a quick squeeze, _don't worry everything will be ok_. She believed him as well. The four of them lay there, face's hidden by the thick leaves as they watched and waited.

"Those brats are pretty famous around these parts...Ace abd Sabo." Leo glanced at the boys with a frown, what kind of reputation did these boys have exactly? "You're absolutely certain it was Ace who stole your money right?" ...Ah, that kind of reputation.

"Yeah...We're really ashamed. We let our guard down" So far they counted three different men speaking

"I can't believe that kid!" the first man was speaking again,he was probably the leader of the group from the way he growled at the other men "Stealing money from our pirate crew!If Captain Bluejam hears about this, we're all dead"

The name passed over Leo and Luffy's heads, having never heard of this 'Bluejam', it meant nothing to them...but it seemed to pull a reaction from the other two. The name obviously meant something to them

"Damn it! Those hoodlums were Bluejams underlings?" Ace cursed quietly,

"Hoodlums? You mean you got that money from those guys?" Sabo hissed back, glancing between the pirates and his friend, before cursing himself, "We've got some dangerous money on our hands"

Now that was something Leo _could_ understand,  
"Why the hell would you steal from people like that?" She hissed at the boys,  
"I didn't know who they were!" Ace hissed back.

Sabo was too busy internally panicking as the men came into closer view,  
"Shit" he cursed, "That guy carrying the sword is Bluejam's underling Porchemy!" When Leo and Luffy stared at him blankly he pressed on, "He's absolutely insane!"

There was no way this situation could possibly get worse

"He tears the skin off the face off the people he defeats, while they're still alive!" Sabo bit the tip of his thumb as he continued. Turns out they could. "We can't let ourselves be seen!"

Sabo's words had gotten Leo so worked up, she didn't notice her brother squeezing her fingers before slipping away from her. Even as she curled her arm under her body, her mind didn't really process that her brothers warm body was no longer pressed against her side. Until Sabo glanced over at her, frowning in concern,

"Huh where did he go?" The blond boy's question stole the breath from Leo's lungs, frantically she looked to the side, it was finally sinking her her brother wasn't there. Ace shoved her down as she went to stand, ready to start shouting her brothers name when she spotted him. Her heart truly did stop that time. He was in the middle of clearing, held high in the air in Porchemy's fist.

"Let go of me!" Luffy shouted as he struggled against the large mans iron grip,

"How'd he get caught?!" Ace growled, what Sabo wanted to know was why the hell had he wandered out there?

Sabo glanced at the boys sister just in time, a moment later and she would have burst from the bushes, giving them all away. Leaping forward he grabbed her shoulders, shoving her back to the ground, laying across the small of her back to keep her down. Ace moved quickly, jumping to press his hand over her mouth, his other arm wrapping around her head keeping it still,

"Are you insane?!" Sabo hissed in her ear "You'll give us away!"

She struggled against their grip, but they were far bigger than stronger than her. With a growl she bit down on Ace's hand, the boy pulling his hand back hissing through his teeth. Before she could open her mouth to shout he shoved her head into the ground, her jaw locked shut between the ground and his weight.

She didn't give up, she continued to struggle against the boys, desperation kicking in. She couldn't move, she couldn't make a sound, all she could do was watch helplessly.

Luffy continued to struggle against her own captors, his sister cheering him on in her head, begging him to punch or kick the men, anything to escape,

"Let go of me! You jerk!" he shouted tugging away from his fist

"Who is this kid?" the massive man questioned, completely unaffected by Luffy's struggles,

_'Please don't say anything stupid Nii-chan, please just this once don't do anything stupid!_

"Help me! Ace!" Luffy shouted in panic

….like that...

The boys gasped in horror, pushing themselves lower to the ground, pressing Leo painfully further into the dirt. She let out a quiet muffled whimper as her lungs were squished into her ribs,

"Please save me Ace!" Luffy begged as he tried his hardest to escape, it broke Leo's heart, he truely believed the devil holding her down would come to her rescue. She couldn't stop the tears that started to pour from her eyes, _'Shut up niichan, please just shut up!'_

"That idiot" Ace growled quietly, "He shouted my name!" Gods she wished he still had his hand over her mouth,

"Did you just say Ace?" The sword wielding Porchemy paused for a moment,

"Yeah so?" Luffy shot back, _no no please don't say it_

"Do you know Ace?" _please niichan, just lie, for once in your life just lie!_

"He's my friend!" Luffy declared loudly, "Oh...but he was going to kill me just now..." Luffy stopped himself short of adding 'And my sister' these assholes didn't need to know about her.

Leo winced as Ace's grip on her hair tightened, pulling a fair few of the hairs free from her scalp, he paid no attention to the harm he was causing her,  
"He never shuts up!" As much as she agreed, he had no right to say it!

"I should ask..." Porchemy spoke almost...pleasantly "Ace stole our money and ran way earlier today...you wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

He was going to lie. Dammit he was going to lie, and he was going to get caught because he sucked at lying! He couldn't even keep a straight face while lying! For the first time Leo was actually kinda of glad Ace was trying to dig a hole in the ground with her face, because she really did not need to see the scene unfold. She knew exactly how it was going to play out, and it wasn't pretty.

"Oh crap!" Sabo cursed, "They're going to take all our treasure!"

Again rage filled her, her brothers life was in danger and all they cared about was their stupid treasure!

"That fool had better not tell them anything!" Ace snarled,

They didn't even know Luffy! If they actually knew anything about him they knew he would go to his death before he betrayed the trust of the people he considered friends.

"Oi answer me!" Porchemy growled as he gave Luffy a firm shake,

She didn't have to see it, she didn't even have to hear Luffy's aloof answer of 'No idea...' The sounds of disbelief coming from the pirates was all she needed to know that her her brother had no magically learned how to lie in the last five minutes. If they got out of this she swore she was going to teach him how to lie convincingly.

Panic shot through her when, instead of an angry outburst the pirates started laughing, why were they laughing? Laughing wasn't the normal reaction.

"Alright then, If you don't know then that's that" he chuckled darkly, "I'll help you remember, so don't worry" That did not sound good.

Ace and Sabo waited until their footsteps were to quiet to hear, before peaking out from behind the bush, confirming their heavy suspisions. The pirates were marching back towards the Grey terminal...dragging Luffy behind them. They almost couldn't hear Luffy's cries of protest  
"What the hell! Let me go! Where are you taking me?!"

Once the men were safely out of sight and well out of hearing range, Ace and Sabo lept to their feet in panic, promptly forgetting about the younger girl they left laying in the dirt. They had more pressing concerns to worry about.

"What are we gonna do?" Sabo paced, chewing on his abused thumb

"What are we gonna do?...well..." Ace ran a hand through his hair, gods what were they going to do? what could they do...both boys glanced up to the branch where their treasure were hidden,  
"We need to move it" Ace declared,"and fast"

"Is that really all you care about?!" Leo shouted once she pushed herself up from the dirt, pain radiating down her jaw as she tried to loosen the now tightened muscles, "We have to go save Luffy!"

"Like hell we do!" Sabo shouted down as he nimbly scaled up the tree, they had no time to waste arguing,

She just stared at them, watching as the made it to the branch, throwing open the secret hatch and began to pile treasure into the cloth sacks they had stored up there. She blinked to make sure she wasn't seeing things

"You're...you're..." her entire body shook, she couldn't even form the words. They were more worried about their bloody treasure, than the boy who was keeping it's location secret for them! They didn't seem to care about what she was doing either, their attention completely focused on their treasure and where they would possibly hide it. Ace mentioned a cave deeper in the mountain.

Fine, they may not give two shits about Luffy, but Leo was not about to abandon her brother to his fate. With anger fueled determination she spun on her heel, running in the direction she had seen the men go. Sabo absently noted that the clearing was more empty than it had been a few minutes earlier, but brushed the thought aside. It wasn't important right now.

It didn't take her long to find where they were keeping her brother, she could hear his screams and cries from a distance. The closer she got the clearer the cries became. Her feet failed her when she finally came across the hut, every fibre of her body screamed at her to run away, to hide. If she ran in there she was going to get hurt, maybe even killed! and what good would both of them getting captured do them? What could she even do?! She was only six! just a kid and these were full grown men, pirates to boot! That's when she heard it, the quiet but distinct sound of something wet splattering against a hard surface. Her nose provided her the answer. Blood. Luffy's blood. Who else could it be? unless they had another hostage which she highly doubted, maybe she had the wrong hut? Yeah that must be it. she can't barge in when she didn't even know Luffy was inside

"I won't tell!" Luffy's hoarse cry banished all doubt.

Something shifted inside Leo then, her limbs unfroze, her joints unlocked and a strange calm settled over her. Glancing to the side she wrapped her small hands around a wooden shaft sticking out from the rubble, heaving it out with a grunt. Ok not a wooden stick, a sledge hammer, almost as tall as she was. Even better. Taking in one last deep breath she charged forward, slamming her shoulder into the huts door, the door bouncing off the wall was a loud crash.

This was her only chance.

Using the momentum of running down the trash hill she swung the sledgehammer as hard and as high as she could, aiming for the violet haired pirates head. All she had to do was land the shot, land the shot then free Luffy and heavy weapon flew towards Porchemy's head. Only to be caught in the pirates fist. Fuck. She tried pulling the hammer back, but the large pirate was far stronger than the young girl.

"What now?!" He growled in frustration, fuck she'd just pissed him off more.

Whimpering she refused to let the end of the hammer go, she got the feeling she may have made things worse

"Another one?!" Porchemy lifted the hammer, Leo dangling on the end, as if it were no effort at all.

"Y-You let my Niichan go!" she shouted, with no weight at all behind her words, tightening her grip on the hammer

"You're niichan eh?" he suddenly smiled widely at her, sending chills down her throat. Before anyone could react he spun the sledge hammer, swinging it to the side sending Leo crashing into a support beam. Crying out in pain the young girl let go of the wooden shaft, curling into a small ball as pain shot through her bruising back.

Leaning down he grabbed her hair, yanking her up so the men in the room, and Luffy could see what he was doing. Leo yelped in hair, crying out as she tried to relieve the tearing pain, tears poured down her cheeks as she kicked out uselessly.

"Maybe if he won't talk, his _imouto_ will" Porchemy's toothy grin spread as he raised a spike glove, ready to start his abuse of her.

Leo did the only thing she could, pulling her lower body up she kicked her legs out, managing to catch his nose, a sickening crunch filled the room.

"GO fuck yourself!" she swore, it probably wasn't the smartest move, but if she was going to die she was going to die fighting!

She then squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the spiked fist as it landed it's blow. But she felt it, fuck she felt it as the spikes dug into her cheek, breaking the skin apart, blood instantly pouring from the cuts. He hit her so hard, the force of the blow sent her flying back into a wall, she whimpered when she hit the ground, curling into a little ball.

"You little bitch!" he growled with blood pouring down his nose, "You'll pay for that!"

As long as it gave Luffy some time to recover, offered him a small break from the onslaught of pain...mentally she braced herself, before shooting a glare up through her arms at the pirate. Then she would not break

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The torture dragged on for hours, through the one eye that hadn't swollen shut Leo could see the sun's light dimming, bathing the world in red and orange. Then again that could also be the blood that covered the ground and walls, soaking into the dirt. To be honest she wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed, she didn't bother wasting precious energy worrying about time. In the moments Porchemy abandoned hitting her, moving on to her brother, she would try and remember just how to breathe, judging by how painful that was she probably had some cracked or broken ribs.

"Just tell me already!" Porchemy screamed at them, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his own breath. He didn't stop his assault, didn't let up for a moment. He swung both fists one after the other, hitting Luffy in the face, in chest and in the stomach. Each hit landing with a sickening crack. His rubbery body absorbed a lot of the hit, but did very little to protect him from the sharp spikes. Although the constant striking against flesh had blunted them considerably.

" Porchemy-san!" the skinnier of Porchemy's two men finally broke, unable to watch the horror unfold any more "It's no use!"

"He doesn't have enough energy to even scream!" his brother added, his face a sickly shade of pale green. "And she can't even lift her head any more! They're done!" They just wanted this to be over with, there was no point in dragging it out any longer.

Luffy hung there silently, tears streaming down his torn and bloody face., tears rolling down his torn and bloody face. He didn't have the energy to lift his head either, the only time he was able to get a glance at the bloodies heap that was his sister was when he spun after a particularly hard hit.

"They probably won't tell us anything and, to be honest, this is so brutal I can barely watch! Just let them go!" the older brother tried to reason.

His poor attempts at mercy only earned him a kick to the side of the head, sending him crashing down besides Leo,

"If you have time to protect these kids, then go look for Ace and Sabo!" Porchemy shouted "Our lives are in danger here! Don't you get it?! The scheduled time that we were supposed to give Captain Bluejam our money is long past!"

Turning his back on his underling,he returned his attention to Luffy,giving Leo a firm kick as he walked past, sending her flying back crashing into the wall. She didn't even have the energy to cry out in pain, slumping down bonelessly.

"Just tell me!" he screamed at Luffy

"I won't!" Luffy rasped out

"You damned brat! Quit trying so hard to keep their secret safe!" Porchemy shook him violently, before punching him once more, channeling his frustration into the blow.

And then he stopped.

"Fine. I don't care anymore!" Tearing his gloves off he tossed them aside, leaning down to pick up his sword. So this was how she was going to die...she whimpered, as broken sobs rattled her aching ribs. Unable to turn her head, or cover her ears she squeezed her eyes shut as Porchemy walked towards her brother. She didn't want to watch, couldn't watch.

"Die" The pirate growled as he raised his sword, swinging it down towards Luffy's limp hanging body.

The sickening sound of metal slicing through flesh and bone never came. Mid swing, the sound of wood splintering and breaking had Porchemy flinching, instinctively moving his body towards the noise. Through the wall two boys had burst through, metal pipes in their hands and they shouted their war cry,

"Stop it!" Ace and Sabo screamed, swinging their weapons towards the pirates.

Only then did Leo let her strength fail her, and for the second time that day she slipped into the darkness of unconsciousness to the sound of Sabo's voice.


	6. Chapter 6

After gaining his footing, Ace pushed himself forward launching himself at the pirates. Swinging his pipe with deadly accuracy he hit one of the pirates over the head, sending him crashing down to the ground. He threw himself at another pirate, rolling as he landed in front of the dangling Luffy, turning his back to the boy he held his pipe with threateningly, daring any of the others to try to get to the boy. Sabo followed suit, driving through the pirates to get to Leo, standing over her limp form protectively.

"That's him! Porchemy-san!" one of the pirates shouted, pointing at the boys

"He's the one who stole our money! Dammit!" another tattled

"What?!" Porchemy growled,turning to glare at the intruders.

"Ace!" Luffy managed a quiet, pained whimpered.

Ace didn't glance back at the dangling boy, he wasn't sure he could bring himself to look too closely at the beaten boy. His stomach churned as his brain ran through all the pain the boy had been through...to protect them! to protect their treasure. The was a moment of silence, where no body moved...the only sound was the fat droplets of blood hitting the ground below where Luffy hang. Like a forest fire, rage burned through his body, consuming him as he ran forward, screaming a battle cry.

He jumped, swinging his pipe towards the pirates skull. Porchemy batted the pipe away, like it was no more than a pesky fly, his arm shooting out to grab Ace by the throat, squeezing,

"Showing up on your own makes this so much easier!" Porchemy grinned,his demented grin only grew as Ace struggled to get out of his iron clad grip, "I didn't know what to do" he continued to talk, like they were just two pals having a casual conversation "Your pal was so tight-lipped! Didn't utter a peep, not even when I started on his precious little sister!"

"Ace!" Luffy gasped out in worry, helplessness clawing at his chest as he weakly struggled against his bonds, he had to try and help!

"L-let me go..." Ace gasped, struggling to get air into his lungs "Sabo!"

Shaking him from his daze, Sabo jumped into action, leaping from behind he swung his pipe at the back of Prochemy's head, managing to actually land a hit! The victory was short-lived when the massive pirate, not even stunned by the blow, threw Ace to the ground, turning on the blond. Ace struggled to push himself up, sucking in as much air as possible while he waited for his vision to clear. All the meanwhile the violet haired pirate had turned his attentions onto Sabo, who took Ace's previous position, standing between the pirates and Luffy, pipe raised ready to break the jaw of the idiot who came too close.

"That hurt pretty bad, you know" he growled, before his demented grin returned, it was really starting to unnerve Sabo "You know what happens when you make fun of grown ups, don't you?" He asked mockingly

Shoving himself back to his feet Ace slammed his pipe on the ground, drawing the attention back to him,

"Your opponent is right here!" he shouted, "Sabo! Help Luffy and Leo!" he ordered as he raised his pipe, ready to kick the arrogant pirates face in,

Sabo nodded, moving swiftly,

"This guy has a sword! Be careful!" he warned.

With his target in site, he sped around Porchemy towards the injured children, it was going to be so easy with Leo on the opposite side of the room. Ducking under swords, he nimbly made his way in the direction of Luffy. One pirate came at him with a knife, Sabo easily disarmed with with a jab of his pipe, literally grabbing the knife out of the air as it was thrown into the air,  
"My knife!" the pirate cried as he cradled his injured hand.

Using Sabo's dash towards the two younger children as a distraction, Ace shot forward, readjusting his grip on his pipe before swinging it once again towards Porchemy, but the pirate wasn't as stupid as his underlings, keeping his guard up gave him the precious few seconds to raise his sword, blocking the attack. With a superior strength he pushed hard on the sword, forcing Ace to retreat. For the moment anyway.

Sabo didn't waste any time on he reached Luffy, slicing the rope holding him high in the air, throwing the knife to the ground he reached out just in time to stop Luffy from crashing against the ground. He then tucked Luffy under his arm, there was no time to cut through the ropes binding him, and it kept the boy from flailing around too much. Sabo tried his hardest to ignore the warm wetness that had begun to soak where the younger boy was pressed against him. He glanced across the hut to where Leo lay in a bleeding mess. Fuck. There was no way he could get across the room with only one arm free, especially not when he was trying to hold onto to Luffy. Crouching down the blond grabbed the knife he had previously thrown, quickly slicing through Luffy's bonds. Fuck it, he'd just have to make the time.

"Luffy can you wrap your arms around my neck?" It was a long shot but maybe the boy had enough energy to do just that.

He really didn't, every part of his body screamed in agony, just moving his arms was torture. But he moved anyway, slowly wrapping his arms around the blonds neck, and then forced his legs to wrap around Sabo's waist, his skin burned as the cuts were stretched. Every muscle screaming out,it took all of his will power to hold on to Sabo, to keep his limbs from falling limp. He had to stay strong, so Sabo could pick his little sister up.

His stupid, reckless, brave little sister. Sabo leaned down, scooping her up and tucked her under his arm like he had with Luffy only moments before, although he moved decidedly more gentle with her than he had been her brother. If the pained pain that scraped from her throat was anything to go by, not gentle enough.

"Let's get out of here, Ace!" he shouted at his friend, quickly making his escape,

"You go on ahead!" Ace shouted back

"You idiot! C'mon!" Sabo swore in frustration, not this again,

"Once I've chosen an opponent...I won't run!" Ace stood his ground as he bore his teeth at the large pirate,

"What?! You brat!" Porchemy had had it up to his eyeballs with these brats,

"Don't!" Sabo warned, urging Ace to for once use his head, "He's on a completely different level than the delinquents in town!" a completely different level to them.

"Don't you get it?" Porchemy spat, pointing his sword at the boy, "Playtime ends now! You stole our money! You will obediently return it to us, you insolent brat! I'm sure you realize that you've done a bad thing, I won't hurt you if you give the money back" a bold faced lie if they had ever heard one.

Ace hitting the sword away from him was all the answer Porchemy needed to know the boy wasn't buying it,

"We're gonna make much better use of it!" Ace shoulder back

"Wha...What did you say?!" Porchemy was very quickly losing his weak grip on his tempre,

"You...wait just a minute!" Sabo let out a noise of frustration, shrugging Luffy off his back, he carefully dropped Leo onto her brothers back. Luffy instantly wrapped his arms around his sister, rolling to the side with his back to the fight "You're being too reckless! Why are you always doing this?!" he scolded Ace as he ran to stand beside him, pipe raised.

"I never back down!" Ace defended himself,

"Don't be ridiculous!" Porchemy growled swinging his sword at the boys, Ace countered with his pipe. The sword cut clean through it, sending the top half flying, landing with a clatter in front of Luffy,he clung tighter to his sister, doing his best to shield her. Ace swore as blood poured from the thin cut forming across his forehead.

"If I lose to a pair of kids, I'll quit being a pirate!" Porchemy scowled

"Then we'll make you quit!" The boys shouted as they attacked together, both aiming for the pirates skull. Sure he was skilled enough to fight off one of them, but both at the same time? He stood no chance.

"I'm going to slaughter you!" The pirate screeched at them.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It took some time for Leo's consciousness to return to her fully. She had faded in and out of the world of the waking, catching glimmers of the world around her. Arguing, hushed whispers, being jostled around painfully as she was pressed into a warm firm body-not her brothers her hazy mind identified. She vaguely remembered calloused hands wrapping coarse bandages around her wounded limbs.

It was Luffy's high pitched sobs that anchored her in the world of the living, she blinked, confused as her brain tried to catch up with where she was. They were in the forest, the inky blue black sky was obscured by a canopy of trees...so yes forest. Forest was good, forest was safe. She tried sitting up, her arms shaking with the effort. She immediately decided it was a mistake as sharp pain shot through her stomach. And her legs. And her arms. Just everywhere really.

"Fuck!" She whimpered, tears springing to her eyes as she leaned forward, waiting for the pain to ease,

"You sure do swear a lot for a little kid" Sabo commented,

She carefully turned her neck to confirm that it was the blond talking to her. Her eyes snapped towards where Luffy was kneeling on a rock, sobbing his heart out. Tension flooded from her body when her brain finally caught up. They were safe, the older boys had saved them. Glancing down at her heavily bandaged body, she then ran her eyes over Luffy taking in every bandage and band aid that now covered his skinny body. Saved them and treated them.

They were safe.

She didn't realize she had started crying until the tears started to soak into the top of her shorts, wrapping her fingers around the dirty and bloodies sash around her waist she let the painful sobs escape. They survived.

"That's a real bad habit you got , Ace..." Sabo turned to scold Ace "Refusing to run when you're up against real pirates. Why are you so eager to die?" Sometimes dealing with Ace made him want to rip his hair out in frustration, he was just so bull headed!

Ace ignored him, inspecting the quick mend job to his pipe which was being held together with medical tape,

"This doesn't feel quite right...it was better before" he muttered as he gave it a few test swings. Sabo let out a noise of frustraion, breathing heavily through his nose, before letting go of the frustration building in his chest, they had bigger worries,

"After this, Bluejam's crew will never forgive us. They'll be after us from now on" He ran a hand through his short hair, which wasn't good for any of them.

"That was so scary!" Luffy all the while had been crying while the older boys talked among themselves, "I thought I was gonna die!" So had Leo, now free of the threat of being beaten to death she could let everything gush forward, all the terror and desperation spilling over in her chest.

The sound of their combined sobbing finally pushed Ace over the edge, unable to ignore them any longer

"You're so fucking annoying! Shut up!" he snapped at them, "How long are you gonna keep crying?!I really hate weaklings and crybabies!"

Both Ace and Sabo blinked in surprise when both of them fell quiet, not completely silent as they bit their lips, trying to keep the whimpers from escaping. Luffy seemed to be doing a better job of it than she was.

"Thank you" Luffy whimpered out as he bowed his head low to the ground, Leo did the same, leaning further until her forehead was pressed into the ground,  
"Thank you" she sobbed out, "Thank you, thank you, thank you" she chanted like a mantra,

"Thank you for...for.." Luffy continued over her quiet chanting, "For saving us!" Tears started to stream silently sown his face.

Ace grew more irritated, getting to his feet to once again lash out against the two younger kids, Sabo immediately place a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back down onto the rock he was sitting on,  
"Come on now" Sabo soothed, "They're just thanking us" he reasoned.

It did little to soothe the bubbling pot of confusion and anger within Ace. The whole situation had his seething, unfamiliar feelings of guilt were not helping his mood in the slightest. He couldn't understand these two, everything they did...it made no sense, he couldn't figure out why and it was really pissing him off. So he did the only thing he was able to do with these feelings. He continued shouting at them

"Why didn't you tell them?!" he demanded to know "Those guys would kill women and children without a second thought!" he turned his glare to Leo, who had managed to move herself into a sitting position, leaning heavily against her brother who had wrapped an arm around her waist, which only served to fuel the anger within him, "And you! You have no powers! No weapons! No way of fighting You were running to your death!"

"Why?!" He demanded finally, desperately wanting to know why, if only to ease the gnawing guilt in his chest that just wouldn't fucking go away,

"If I'd told them...if we'd told them..." Luffy glanced at Leo, who nodded, she wasn't sure she had the energy within her to talk right now "We could never be your friend"

"That'd be better than dying right? Why do you want to be my friend so much anyway?" Luffy's questions raised more questions than answers, he turned to Leo, maybe she''d make a little more sense, "And you hate me! Why would YOU want to be friends?!" ...actually she made even less sense that Luffy!

"I don't hate you..." She softly admitted, Ace recoiled not expecting the answer, sure she thought he was an ass who needed to pull his head out of his ass, and sure she wanted to often punch him in his stupidly pretty face...but she didn't hate him. She never really did.

"After all the stuff I put you both through..." Ace tried pulling the words together, trying to pull sense together, "Why did you still follow me out here?!"

"Because..." Leo glanced at Luffy, they both knew what needed to be said...but gods it hurt to admit it, to finally put those feelings into words, to give them name and reality.

"Because there isn't anybody else!" Luffy finally blurted,Leo squeezed her eyes shut as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks "We can't return to Windmill Village, and we hate those mountain bandits!...If I didn't chase after you, we'd be all alone!..."

"Being alone..." Leo continued, "Is worse than being hurt"

"But you have each other!" Ace pointed out,

They glanced at each other, it hurt more than any wound to put into words,  
"We do but..." Leo frowned, "It's not...It's just..." she puffed her cheeks out in frustration, unable to find the words to describe it, the feeling between them. Yes it was true, they _did_ have each other...but it wasn't...it was less like having another person around, it was more like...having another part of her around. She knew Luffy felt the same, without the other they were incomplete. But even together they somehow felt...lonely, craving outside human contact...friends, companionship they couldn't offer each other.

Ace watched as Luffy and Leo's face distorted with emotion, he didn't know what was going on through their heads...but he let the question die, recognizing when to leave the topic alone.

"...What about your parents?" Ace asked, his anger fading,

"Don't have any." Leo bluntly shot down

"Just grandad...nobody else" Luffy continued, his hand reaching for Leos, "Only Leo...but even then..." his face scrunching as he tried to find the words, unable to find them.

"It isn't so bad when I'm here?" Ace asked quietly, Leo frowned...what an odd question

"Right" Luffy nodded

"And it'd be bad if I wasn't here?" Ace continued on almost...cautiously, like he was almost afraid of the answer...

"Yeah" Leo answered slowly,

"You want me to live?" Ace finally asked, bracing himself unknowingly.

"Of course I do!" Luffy shouted back.

It was then the pieces clicked into place, and it was like a punch to the gut for Leo. Ace was hurting, a bone deep ache that spread to every corner of your being, swallowing you whole...a pain she knew well. Guilt bubbled within her, all of the cruel words...the harsh glares...he really hadn't deserved any of it.

"But still, I hated spoiled kids like you" And he had to open his mouth and ruin the moment... which of course set Luffy off,

"I'm not spoiled! I'm strong!" he shouted as he jumped down from where he was sitting, as if his injuries didn't bother him the the slightest,

"Strong? How are you strong?!" Ace scoffed.

Leo groaned, but find she couldn't fully commit to the annoyance...the normalcy of it was comforting,

"You're supposed to be a man but you keep crying all the time!" Ace mocked,  
It made sense, Leo mused, men had this weird...macho thing about feelings, finding it easier to express themselves in actions rather than words, uncomfortable with opening themselves up and making themselves vulnerable,

"Have you ever been punched by a spiked glove?!" Luffy shouted back, "I'm only seven! I won't cry when I become a ten-year-old like you! I'll become much stronger!"

Then again, she mused, women were the same...it was a weird person thing...one she was guilty of as well.

Leo then leaned towards Sabo, who stood beside her with arms crossed,

"...On second thought maybe being alone isn't so bad" she muttered, getting a giggle out of the boy,

"I didn't cry when I was seven either! You moron! Don't compare yourself to me!" Ace shouted

"I'm gonna be stronger than anyone else!" Luffy shouted back

As they continued to shout back and forth, Leo could feel her own strength beginning failing her again,she could feel herself literally deflating,

"Can we please just go home" she quietly whimpered to herself, not realizing Sabo could hear her, "I just want to go home" and sleep, fuck she felt like she could sleep for a month.

Gazing at her Sabo took in her exhuasted and defeated slump, exhaustion seeping into her body and her voice. Straightening himself, Sabo set to work,  
"Okay, That's enough" Sabo declared as he stepped in between the arguing boys, gently pushed the two apart, "Oh, by the way, I've got a problem here"

That caught everyone's interest, Sabo mentally congratulated himself at the flawless de-escalation of the situation,

"Because of what happened today, Bluejam's crew will be trying to find and kill all four of us, right?" He turned his head to both boys

"Oh fucking brilliant" Leo swore again, seriously when would this day end?

"Yeah I guess so.."Ace answered, the realization sinking in

"I've been living in this forest, but it's close to their base, the Pirates Cove. What do you think would happen if I fell asleep somewhere and they attacked me?" Sabo continued on,

"You'd die" Ace bluntly replied

"You'd definitely die" Luffy nodded

"Slow and painfully" Leo added unhelpfully

"Indeed" Sabo nodded calmly, not letting on how much the situation was freaking him out,

"So I got to ask you something, hear me out" the boys formed a circle, arms around shoulders as Sabo asked what he'd wanted to ask for quite a while now.

"Of course you can!" Ace exclaimed,

"This is gonna be so much fun! Like a sleep over!" Luffy cheered,

Sabo grinned at them before realizing they were missing a member of their little group, he turned to Leo who was still sitting on her rock...she hadn't moved an inch...

"Leo...why are you all the over there? What do you think?" He asked her, frowning slightly.

"Huh?" Leo blinked as she looked up at the sound of her name, her head was starting to spin...it almost made her feel pukey. She frowned as she tried to

"Can't move" she finally yawned, "Too sore...too tired... will move later"

Luffy was beside her instantly, his hands reaching to grasp her knees, then her wrists and elbows bounced over to her,

"You took quite a kicking imouto..." he frowned sounding worried as his hands ghosted over her bandages.

She smiled tiredly as him, lifting a bandaged hand to pat his cheek

"I'm just a bit sore, Niichan" that was a bit of a white lie, but she didn't want to worry him more than need be, "I don't bounce back as quickly as you do"her sentence was broken by a wide yawn,

"Can we go home now?" she finally voiced, sounding desperate, "Sabo you best come as well, probably not safe here for you now"

The boys chuckled, while she didn't hear them, she was at least on the right track.

"I'll carry you!" Luffy declared, going to wrap his arms around his sister, his attempts were halted by Ace slamming his pipe against the boys head. To his impressed surprise the pipe held together,

"No you won't moron! You're too weak! You'd drop her!" he shouted

"I would not! I'm strong enough to carry my baby sister!" Luffy rubbed his head as he shouted back

"Hah! You're barely strong enough to-" Ace started again,

"PLEASE" She cut them off, "Luffy just let Ace do it" she muttered, "Save us the trouble" Plus she wanted to talk to Ace, and this would probably be the only opportunity she'd get to talk to him alone. Luffy paused, picking up on the tone in her voice, he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, before nodding, dropping the subject. The older boys were slightly suspicious about the sudden change, that is until Luffy decided he had a new important mission. Getting to know Sabo. He attached himself to the older boys side, and was not letting go.

"Right up you go" Ace muttered as he crouched down, helping Leo scramble onto his back,wrapping her arm around his neck, her legs hanging loosely by his side. Ace wrapped his arms under her legs, supporting her.

"You're a lot lighter than you look" he muttered

They followed between Luff and Sabo, Ace moving at a slightly slower pace than usual, despite his declarations of their weakness and need to harden up, he didn't want to jolt the injured girl more than he needed to. Against his back he could feel just how small and fragile she really was, it was amazing the pirates didn't break anything,

"Ace..." she finally spoke up

"Tch what?" he muttered back

"...I'm sorry..." she whispered,

Ace was stunned. Sorry? Sorry for what?

"What the hell are you on about?"

"For calling you a monster" she continued, "And for all the other cruel things I said"

His grasp on her thighs tightened, it was the only evidence that her words actually struck him,

"I know what it's like" she continued quietly, "To be the child of a monster..." Ace stopped completely in shock, before a soft jab to the side got him moving again, "and to be a freak of nature...I didn't always live with Luffy ya know...I don't remember much of my time living with Gramps, I was just a baby...but I remember enough...and he'd occasionally take us to visit the marine headquarters...they're not as quiet or as subtle as they'd like to think"

She let silence fall, allowing the boy to digest her words,

"I was angry, and I was hurt...but I should have never said those words" her words became more slurred as she began to slowly drift off to sleep, "I thought you were taking Niichan away from me..."

She didn't speak again for awhile, Ace went to speak up, but a quiet snore alerted him that the girl had finally fallen asleep. There was still a part of him that wanted to be angry, to hate her and never forgive her but... glancing back at her bruised and bandaged face against his shoulder, now so...open... and trusting...he just couldn't.

Sighing he readjusted her, before quickening his pace to catch up with the others, feeling lighter than before...because for the first time probably ever, he didn't feel so alone.


	7. Chapter 7

It took them a good couple of hours of trekking through the jungle to find their way back to Dadan's hideout. Not that Leo was really conscious for most of the walk, the heaviness in her head beating her will to stay awake. It didn't help that Ace's back was very warm, and his shoulder was very comfortable, she couldn't help but nuzzle into the tips of his black hair, breathing in the wonderful combination of sweat, dirt and blood. The boys weren't much better, shoving open the door before shuffling into the middle of the room, Luffy immediately dropped to the floor, landing face down beside the glowing fire pit. Sao chuckled fondly as he set about opening random cupboards, what a funny boy. After the third cupboard he found what he was looking for, pulling the thick blanket into his arms he turned back the others to show them his new treasure. He couldn't help the warmth that spread through his chest as he watched Ace gently place Leo in the ground next to her brother. Luffy's arms immediately wrapped around his little sisters battered body, dragging her into his, his body visibly relaxing once she was finally safe within his arms.

Ace dropped to the floor next to them, putting a little distance between himself and the siblings. Sabo could understand, as he dropped down between Ace the the siblings, keeping distance himself. Not as much as Ace granted, but enough, before throwing the blanket over the lot of them. He vaguely remembered someone pulling his hat off as he let himself slip into the unconsciousness of sleep.

The respectable, and slightly awkward space between the children didn't last very long, throughout the night they gravitated towards each other. Then on top of each, each doing their best to steal as much body heat as possible, getting themselves nicely tangled in the process. During a brief period of half waking Ace become aware that he had somehow ended up in the middle of Sabo and Luffy, one leg nudging Luffy's shoulder with one arm practically hugging Sabo's leg...when did he end up upside down?...Where on earth was the tiny one? his sluggish brain urged him to locate the youngest of their group.

After a moment of wriggling he found her, rather he found her feet, which were tucked into his arm pit. Running a hand up her leg he followed the limb to find the rest of it's owner. Sabo's legs were laying over her middle, held in place by Ace's own grip. It took a little more effort to locate her head, tucked neatly away under luffy's own arm. Satisfied the weakest of their little pack was safe and in one piece Ace let himself drift back into slumber, forgetting he was ever awake to begin with.

This was how Dadan found them when she lumbered in from her room, she glanced at the pile of children before brushing it out of her mind. Coffee, she needed coffee before she could deal with four brats. She turned towards the cupboards with the full intention of locating some coffee beans when her brain finally caught up with her thoughts. Four...brats? Turning violently she stared down at the pile of children, counting the heads in her own. One, two, three, four...no that can't be right, one,two,three, four...no she must be counting wrong!

Leo was pulled from her wonderfully warm dozing by Dadan's gravelly voice, what on earth was the woman muttering about now?

"Ace...Luffy...Leo..."

Her ears perked up when she heard her own name, should she push her minds into the world of the waking? Was Dada's mutterings interesting enough to actually wake up for?

"Ace...Luffy...Leo"

...this was actually the first time Leo had ever heard the bandit say their names, usually it was just 'brat'...maybe she was trying to memorize their names? yeah that made sense

"Ace! Luffy! Leo! Who is that?!" Dadan screamed at them, jolting Leo awake, what was who? the shifting legs over her belly reminding her there was a fourth member to their pile, oh yeah, what's his face...

"Who's who?" Luffy mumbled as he sat up, Leo whined at the loss of her pillow, having decided it was way too early to be alive Luffy ressumed his previous position as 'pillow' fully prepared to return to his dream.

"You're so noisy this morning...do you know what time it is?" Ace grumbled yanking the blanket over him as he turned his back to Dadan,

Sabo sat up groggily. He blinked a couple times, no fully registering what was going on. He opened his mouth, then let his body fall back onto the floor, careful to to squish the young girl under him.

"Why's there suddenly a fourth kid here?" Dadan questioned loudly, boarding on hysterical, "Who are you?!"

Leo let out a long, loud whine of displeasure, it was way too early for noise, too early for thinking...what time did they even get back last night? It was late, if the ache in her body was any indicator, they really didn't get that much sleep.

She whined again, like a sad puppy, obviously they weren't going to be getting any more sleep, maybe if she ignored the noises they'd go away and leave them?

"Who, me?" Sabo seemed to have given up on sleeping, damn his politeness!, "I'm Sabo...Hi! You're Dadan right?" Leo whined again when Sabo pulled himself up, leaving her belly cold and exposed. Traitor.

"Sabo...I've heard that name before" Dadan narrowed her eyes at the blond boy, her eyes scanning him up and down as she tried to figure out where she knew that name...no he couldn't be..

"Really? That makes it easier for me then" he reached out to shake her large hand with his smaller ones, "Let's try to get along starting today!" he gave her what he probably considered a charming heart grin,

"Get along?" Dadan slapped his hand away, "Don't tell me you think you're staying here?" The grin obviously hadn't won the bandit over.

His only response was a loud fart. _That_ woke Leo up, gagging she covered her face, oh gods that was foul

"Don't answer with a fart!" Dadan screamed in fury,

The boy chuckled sheepishly, farting again.  
"Oh that's so gross" Leo groaned, rolling away from the boys, why were boys so gross?

Something in Dadan's head finally clicked, a cold wet feeling dripped down her spine, she knew where she'd heard the name before,  
"You've gotta be kidding me! If you're the Sabo I heard about, then you're supposed to be one hell of a brat!" why did she have to shout everything? they were standing right there.

"Really? And I heard that you're an old hag!" Sabo continued to grin brightly, Leo wasn't sure he quite grasped the concept of being 'charming'

"You shouldn't say things like that!" Dadan growled, "I don't want to deal with any more unruly kids!" One had been more than enough, three was out of the question, but four? Nope no deal, she wasn't even being threatened to take this one in! He just showed up! This wasn't an orphanage!

"But you're a nice old hag hag who can't turn down any requests from other people too, right?" Sabo continued, still smiling warmly up at Dadan. Leo took back her previous thoughts, maybe the older boy did know how to be charming,  
"I heard that you're an old hag who's like a man among men!" Sabo added on.

No she was right, he sucked at this 'charming' business, he should leave it to the professional.

"'A man among men'...I'm a woman! Can't you tell" Dadan shouted, Leo bit her lip to fight back the urge to chime in a 'Nope'

The mountain bandit leader tried staring the blond boy down with a hard glare, trying to intimidate him or something probably, Sabo continued to smile up at her, not wavering for even a moment, someone had to cave eventually. Leo didn't even have to watch to know who crumbled first.

"Ace! Luffy! Leo! Sabo!" Dadans shoulders sagged for a moment, before she collected herself, "Since you're all under my care, you'd better hurry and get to work!" she shouted in an attempt to scrape together some dominance, she couldn't very well let the brats walk all over her.

Sabo laughed happily, "Thank you Dadan!" his smile grew even brighter, Dadan glared at the blond brat, crafty little bugger.

"Come on 'mouto!" Luffy turned to poke his sister, "We've got adventures to be having!"

The 'excitement' of gaining yet another young charge quickly faded, the bandits quickly starting their usual daily business, and currently Leo's business was hiding from the world under her blanket,

"Don' wanna" she whined as she pulled the blanket over her head, Luffy pouted poking her shoulder again. As happy as he was that Ace had finally accepted them, he didn't want to go without his sister, it just wasn't the same without her.

"Tch just leave her if she's going to be a baby" Ace growled impatiently as he leaned against the door, itching to get away from the hut as soon as possible,

"What's wrong with her?" Sabo frowned as he asked Ace, watching as Luffy continued to try and poke his burritoed sister.

"She doesn't get out of bed some days" Ace shrugged, not really knowing the reason himself, he didn't really care to know "She's just being a baby,

"She is not!" Luffy snapped at them, surprising the older boys by the sudden aggresion in his voice. It probably wasn't wise to be insulting his sister in front of him, the boy did seem rather protective of her.

"Just because 'mouto has bad days doesn't make her a baby" he defended his sister, pouting in frustration"She just gets tired"

"We're all tired, but you don't see us laying around!" Ace snapped back

"Not physically tired dummy!Her soul gets tired!" he tried hard to explain, although she was probably physically tired as well...and sore...maybe it'd be better if she did stay home today.

"If I get up will you stop arguing?" she quickly interjected before the two could spark a proper argument, when neither boy made a noise she took it as a confirmation, groaning as her body protested as she pushed herself up. She could move at least, that she was thankful for, sure every twitch was agony, but it was an agony she could live with,

"Give me five minutes to change and grab my bag" she grumbled, and maybe wash her face...she raised a hand to pat the bandages on her face...ok maybe not wash her face, but she was definitely changing her clothes,

"Fine five minutes or we leave without you" Ace threatened

She flipped them a hand gesture she saw Shanks use once at Benn. It did the trick as Ace's face grew slack in shock and spluttered, Sabo burst into laughter, falling to his ass. Ace watched disbelievingly as the supposedly innocent little girl limped towards the room she shared with her brother. Where the fuck did she learn such dirty gestures! Luffy just watched on in pride, having no idea what the hand gesture meant, he just knew Shanks used it, therefore it must be some cool. The older boys were starting to get the impression that maybe they had judged the younger two a little bit early.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

It wasn't until she limped into the closet she called a bedroom did Leo realize that she didn't actually have any spare clothes to change in to. When Garp decided to relocate his grandchildren he hadn't thought that far ahead, all she had was the dirty clothes on her back...and her sash, which she kept safely tucked under her shirt. Sniffing back tears she limped back towards the boys,

"What happened to changing your clothes?" Sabo asked confused when she walked back wearing the same bloodied clothes she was wearing when she left them,  
"Don't have any spare clothes" she sniffed, before shrugging, "So we might as well just go"  
"Oh for gods sake" Ace growled in annoyance stalking into the hut. The other three watched in confusion, what on earth was he doing? They soon had their answer as he marched back towards them, holding a crumbled pile of clothes,  
"Here" He shoved them into Leo's arms, "They don't fit me any more so you can have them"

Leo stared down at the clothes in her arms, before smiling up at Ace brightly, bouncing up to kiss his cheek,  
"Thank you!" She grinned at him before quickly hobbling off to get changed. Ace reached up to touch his cheek, staring at the empty space where Leo had just been standing.

He didn't even realize he had been lost in thought until Leo reappeared by his side, the shirt hung loosely on her frame, almost falling off one shoulder and the only thing holding the pants on her narrow hips was the red sash she seemed to wear with everything. Yet somehow it suited her, like the bright grin on her face.

"Right then!" He shook the strange feeling, "We're off!" he shouted into the hut, tugging the annoyingly bright girl behind him, with Sabo and Luffy following close behind.

"Oi! Luffy, Leo!" Dadan stormed back into the room, "You're supposed to do the laundry and clean the house!" she shouted after them,

"No way!" Luffy stopped to turn around to face Dadan, pulling his eyelid down and sticking his tongue out, then turning back, effortlessly swinging Leo onto his back. His sister let out a whoop of joy, wrapping her arms around his neck.

When Sabo suddenly stopped running, Luffy wasn't quite fast enough to stop, crashing into the back of him, Luffy running into his back, Leo managing to twirl to the side to avoid collision. Ace held his arms out, catching Leo before she hit the ground,  
"This better not become a habit" He muttered, pushing her back up onto Luffy's back.

"Oh yeah..." the Sabo muttered to himself, "I forgot to say..."

Spinning on his heel he started to wave at Dadan and the bandits, who were catching from the hut entrance,  
"Hey Dadan!" He shouted back at the bandits, "We kinda pissed off Bluejam! so his crew might come around! Be careful if they do!"

Before Dadan had any time to process or react to the news, the children quickly made their escape into the forest, with Sabo and Ace taking the lead. Luffy tried his hardest to keep up with the older boys, but their legs were longer...and he did have the extra weight of Leo _and_ her bag to carry, so of course he was going to be a bit slower! It just meant he'd have to train and get faster.  
"When I'm better I'll show them up for you" Leo quietly grinned beside him, he turned his head a little to grin back at her.

"Dadan sure is an understanding old hag" Sabo commented as they slowed into a jog,

"But she's still an old hag" Ace shot back

"True!" Luffy added, "She's a bandit, after all." Leo nodded in agreement "And her face is scary!"

"And she's loud" Leo frowned, she didn't like loud people.

Leo narrowed her eyes at the jungle around them, over the last few months she had come to know the jungle path's very well...this path was unfamiliar to her,  
"This way is different from your usual path" She spoke up casually, "It's a lot more tame than your usual route"  
Ace glanced back at her, meeting her gaze for a moment before turning his eyes back to the path before them, looking a little more pink than usual,  
"Yeah..." He awkwardly muttered, "I liked the...scenic...route"  
"Yeah, sure" she glared at his back.

They soon came to a clearing, the older boys slowing to a stop. Luffy managed to stop in time, letting Leo slide off her back. After readjusting the satchel hanging by her side, she joined the boys in the circle they had formed. She bitterly noted they were at least several inches taller than herself. Bastards.

"So what now?" Sabo asked after a few moments of silence, unsure of how to proceed, this was new territory for them after all.

"Well first off..." Ace began

"Food!" Luffy cut him off, throwing his arms into the air, almost whacking Sabo in the face, Leo had moved out of his arms reach before he even moved.

"I second that!" Leo nodded her head in agreement.

"Alright! Let's get some food!" Sabo turned to Ace, who nodded. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day after all.  
"Food it is"

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

They quickly found a narrow but deep river, the perfect spot for a bit of fishing. The original plan was for all four of them to wade into the water, scare a fish into a corner and bash its brains out. At least that was the plan until Leo pointed out neither she nor Luffy could swim at the moment.  
"What do you mean you can't swim?" Ace demanded to know,  
"Well I'm still too injured to keep myself afloat" Leo waved her bandaged arms, "And Devil Fruit users sink in water like anchors"  
Luffy pouted at the nickname  
"Really?" Sabo blinked in surprise, "I thought that was just a myth" His voice rose in curiosity, "Then again I always thought Devil fruits themselves were a myth..."

It fell upon the older boys to catch breakfast it seemed. Luffy watched in innocent curiosity, eyes bright with awe as he watched as Sabo and Ace waded into the water, waiting for some poor stupid fish to swim right into their trap. As fascinating as it was to watch the boys freeze themselves, Leo decided to use the opportunity a bit more wisely. Finding a nice comfortable spot she settled down, pulling her satchel in front of her, pulling out a couple thin books. After a moment of consideration she picked one, setting the others beside her and began to intently study the pages, read the words quietly under her breath.

She was so focused on her studying she didn't even notice the passage of time until a Shadow fell over her. Blinking in confusion she looked at Sabo,  
"Were'nt you..." she leaned to the side, looking past him, frowning even more when she saw the massive fish now being spit roasted over an open fire...when on earth did they do all that? She hadn't been reading that long...had she?

"So what'cha reading?" Sabo asked as he leaned over her more, trying to catch the title or at least a glance at some of the pages.

Suddenly aware of just how close the blond was, Leo flushed bright red, shoving the book down into her open satchel, shoving the small pile of books beneath her with her other arm,  
"Nothing!" she squeaked

"That's certainly not nothing" Sabo insisted reaching for the books, Leo kicked a leg out, planting her foot firmly into his cheek pushing him away as she tried to keep the books out of sight.

"It's nothing really!" she squeaked again.  
While she was preoccupied with keeping Sabo at legs length Ace made his move, darting his hand underneath her, grabbing the books right out from out her,  
"Got it!" He announced with a grin, stepping back out of her swinging arm range,

"Oi give it back!" she shouted, pushing herself up, swiping at Ace while still trying to keep Sabo from grabbing the book in her bag.

Ace ran his eyes over the book cover, a grin growing across this face as he quickly flipped through the pages, bursting into laughter as he tossed it to Sabo,

"That's a baby's book!" he laughed, "Parents read that to toddlers!" at least that's what he saw parents reading to their children.

Sabo couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he opened the book, flicking through the pages, stopping somewhere in the middle, the words where simple and large, accompanied with a picture of a farmer and their dog.

"The farmer has a dog" he read aloud in a fake pompous voice, "Her name was Stella, Stella was a very agile dog"

Leo's face was bright red now, gritting her teeth in both frustration and shame, fighting back the urge to burst into tears. How dare they mock her, they didn't even know her!

"Why are reading something as babyish as this anyway?!" Sabo chuckled as he continued to flip through the picture book, she was only a few years younger than them, there was no need for her to be reading such simple books.

"Because I can't fucking read that's why!" she spat at them, fury bubbling over the top of the tight lid in her chest.

Sabo felt his fingers go lax, the thin book slipping from his fingers, hitting the river stone with a soft thud, both he and Ace stopped laughing instantly, the teasing atmosphere crumbled immediately. Guilt immediately filled the empty space in his chest,

"Are you being serious?" Sabo tentatively questioned, hoping she was joking,

"Yes I'm being bloody serious!" she spat as she snatched the book from the ground, furiously rubbing the stray tears from her eyes. Sabo shared a glance with Ace, swallowing thickly. They'd fucked up  
"I'm six!" she reminded them "And we never went to school! gramps was always too busy with Luffy and his 'Marine training'. When the hell did you expect me to learn" she hissed. "Turn the fish it's going to burn!" she snarled at them before stomping away from the boys, refusing to let them see the tears she could force away.

She found a nice boulder to hide behind, throwing her satchel to the ground, dropping down next to it. As satisfying as it was, the pain that shot through her spine reminded her she couldn't be so rough with her body, not yet away. She viciously stuffed the books back into her satchel, shoving it back down beside her as she pulled her knees into her chest, hiding her face away. She couldn't stop the tears, nor the hollow ache in her chest, but she would be damned before she let the boys hear her cry. She didn't move from her position until the smell of cooked fish filled her nose, lifting her head slightly she caught sight of several slices of sligtly charred fish fillets being held out in front of her on a broad leaf. She followed the arm up to Sabo's apologetic face. She glared, shoving the fish away from her,  
"Not hungry" she spat. Her stomach rumbled, giving her away,  
"You sure about that" Sabo mentally cursed himself, now was not the time to be teasing.

With another glare she snatched the fish away from Sabo, shoving the fish into her mouth, turning her side away from Sabo. He sighed, it was something anyway. He glanced back at Ace, who urged him on. Sabo was much better with words than he was after all,

"We're sorry about before" He finally spoke up and watching her chew furiously for a few moments, "We didn't know..."

"You were still asses" she cut him off with a glare,

"We were." he admitted lowering his head in shame,

They fell back into silence, the only sound was Leo's angry chewing,

"If you want..."Sabo started cautiously "I could help you...with reading I mean"

"I don't need your pity!" she spat, This was not going the way Sabo had hoped,

"It's not pity!" he tried to calm her, "You don't have to take my offer But it's there if you want it"

With nothing more he really could say he made his way back to Ace, who had started on his own portion of the fish. Luffy had been watching the whole scene in conflicted agony. Every fiber of his being urged him to rush forward and defend his little sister, to shout at the boys for making fun of her...but something held him back. The looks Leo threw his way through side glances, the way she held her shoulders...she'd been shamed enough without having someone try and fight her battles for her, and Luffy would be damned if he shamed his baby sister...but he wanted to hit them so much!

It was only when Leo strode back into their group, sitting next to Luffy, still chewing a little more violently than she would normally, did Luffy let it go. He had more important things to focus on now, like his empty stomach. The wonderful smell of cooked fish filled the air, making his mouth ran wet with saliva and his stomach rumble sadly,

"So Devil Fruit users can't swim?" Sabo tried to make conversation, the air was way too thick for his liking,

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded in confirmation, it seems the older of the siblings had easily forgiven him,

Sabo nodded in understanding, "That explains why you were scared of being thrown in the river yesterday..." His gaze returned to the layers of bandages adorned by both of them, guilt seeping into the empty cracks of his soul once more. Grabbing the tail fin of the fish he tossed it to Luffy, "Here, you can have some too" He offered.

"Thank you!" Luffy cheered as he stuffed the entire fin into his mouth at once,  
"You're meant to chew your food niichan" Leo muttered beside him, her words holding no heat as her anger quickly evaporated.

"You're too soft Sabo" Ace muttered through a mouthful of food, luckily only Sabo heard him,

"It's no big deal" the blond brushed him off, it was no big deal and besides they did kind of owe the younger children, as much as either boy hated to admit it, "So which fruit did you eat?" he turned his attention back to Luffy,

"The Gomu Gomu fruit!" Luffy replied happily as he patted his belly in satisfaction,

"Gomu Gomu? You're made of rubber?!" Sabo asked curiously, what a strange power

"Yeah!" the rubber boy nodded enthusiastically,

"So you exchanged your ability to swim to become a rubber man?" Ace frowned before snorting "That's stupid"

"It's not stupid!" Luffy shouted back, puffing up in defense.

Sabo and Leo both let out a sigh of defeat, they couldn't even go a few hours without the two boys arguing...although to be fair Ace was being as ass, and if he continued to be an ass then Leo would have no choice but to hit him.

"I've got bunches of unbeatable techniques! And besides I don't need to be able to swim! 'Mouto can swim for me!" Luffy declared confidently,

Sabo turned back to Leo, with a questioning look,

"So you didn't eat the Devil fruit as well?" he asked, the two seemed to share everything, he was a little surprised to hear they didn't share this,

"Nope" she shook her head, still not really wanting to talk to them after their dick move from earlier,

"How come?" he probed, obviously he wasn't going to leave it alone until he got an answer, but what was her answer? She had actually put a fair amount of thought into it, Luffy _had_ offered the fruit first...what would have happened if she had taken it? if she was the one who gained rubbery powers instead of her brother? How different would the world be...how different would she be? And if she knew what it was, knew she could gain unimaginable power with just a single bite of a fruit...would she have taken it?

"Because not being able to swim ever again would be torture" she finally concluded, a little surprised by her own answer, "Giving up the ocean like that? I couldn't do it. The ocean is freedom...to give up my freedom like that...I don't even know if I'd give it up for Luffy"  
She would, that Sabo was certain of. He may not have known her for very long, half a day a best...but he knew she'd throw away everything in a heart beat for her brother...like she had the day before.

Leo and Sabo were pulled back into the other dark haired children's argument, Ace snorted and continued to mock the younger boy,

"A guy who can't even catch a fish shouldn't talk big" he turned so his back was facing the others, using a thin bit of bone to pick the meat from his teeth. He didn't particularly want to see Sabo's disappointed look.

Luffy puffed himself up, marching towards Ace with the full intention of showing off his 'super powerful' techniques and teach the older boy a lesson. Sabo saw the disaster in progress, not really wanting to deal with the aftermath he grabbed Luffy's cheek to stop him...Luffy kept on walking until his cheek reached the point where stretching hurt, forcing him to stop just shy of Ace's body...maybe if he kicked out...

"You really are made of rubber huh? That's cool!" Sabo watched in awe as the skin stretched with his pulls,

"Don't play with me like that!" Luffy growled as he swiped at Sabo's hands, wincing internally as pain shot through his face with every tug,

Sabo laughed cheerfully before letting go of Luffy's cheek, the recoil of skin snapping back into place sent Luffy stumbling backwards, landing on his ass. Leo let out a noise of concern, reaching over to rub her brothers face.

"Still" Sabo continued with a thoughtful look, "Rubber can stretch, shrink and expand...It might be pretty useful in a fight"

Luffy went from pouting to excitement in an instant, his entire face lighting up as he puffed up in pride, finally! someone else who understood just how cool and useful his power was!

"I know right! Oh hey! I thought up a new technique yesterday!" He announced proudly.

Leo's head shot up as her stomach dropped, a new technique? Oh this wasn't going to end well...it wasn't that Luffy's ideas where bad, most of them were actually really good ideas...he just wasn't so good at figuring out how to make his ideas work outside of his head. Sure he almost always managed to figure it out in the end...but at start of the idea's life? she very quickly, and in her opinion very discreetly, inched her way towards Ace, who still lay with his back to the others, stepping over him and taking a seat a meter or so in front of him. Putting the older and stronger boy between her and her enthusiastic brother, the older boy didn't bother opening his eyes when he heard the smallest of them settle in front of him. He didn't tell her to stuff off either, he didn't want to look at her, let alone talk to her, anger still boiled in his belly. He shouldn't feel this shit for teasing her, he didn't feel like shit when he teased Luffy, the fact he couldn't even make fun of the tiny brat infuriated him, what the fuck was wrong with him?

"It's called Gomu Gomu no Fuusen! It can deflect anything, even cannonballs!" Luffy declared proudly

Yeah this was not going to end well, Leo inched back a little bit more,

"Really? Show me!" Sabo sounded very interested, as much as she was pleased someone was encouraging her brother rather than shooting him down, maybe a little shooting down was good"

"Alright! But this is a special show! I won't show you Ace, so don't watch!" Luffy glared at Ace's back  
"I didn't want to watch anyway dumbass" Ace muttered  
"Here I go!" Leo tried not to squeeze her eyes shut.

He spread his legs getting into the stance he'd developed

" **Gomu Gomu no..."** he started to suck in air filling his lungs with as much air as possible, his rubbery body filling with air like a balloon,

"What?! What's this?! It's incredible!" Sabo gasped, his eyes shining in amazement "He keeps growing bigger and bigger!"

" **Fuusen!"** Luffy finished, now at least five times his original size, round like a balloon...with tiny arms and feet...

He started to bounce up and down, unable to keep himself grounded, his body too light and bouncy now.

"What do you think? Amazing right?" he grinned while holding his mouth shut with his hands, trying to keep all the air in,

Leo closed her eyes when Ace finally stood up, really not wanting to watch what was about to unfold. She saw the spark of mischief in Ace's eyes and was pretty powerless to do anything, he was much bigger and stronger than her and until she was fully healed she could do piss all to stop him. As predicted he was up to mischief, kicking his leg out, Ace launched poor Luffy into the air like an over inflated ball.

"Some exercise will help me digest my food!" he grinned, "Sabo! Kick him back!"

The blond just nodded, "Uh...Sure" he looked unsure, but still did as he was told, kicking Luffy back towards Ace when he bounced close enough,

"Cut it out!" Luffy cried through his hands, trying really hard to keep the air in.

"Come on you guys" Leo protested as she stood up, "That's enough"

They ignored her pleas, continuing their little game of 'kick ball'

"This is supposed to be an invincible technique to deflect cannonballs?" Ace mocked as he ran towards Luffy "then try deflecting my kicks!" he landed another kick firmly in Luffy's swollen belly, sending him flying, right into some rocks, which he bounced off a few times before landing in the middle of the water. By some miracle, and probably because he was filled with so much air, he floated rather than sinking to his death.

"Nii-chan!" Leo cried startled, throwing off her coat, about to dive in to save her brother, her body protesting but her body be damned!

Ace grabbed her arm just as she was about to dive in, was the idiot trying to drown herself?! She was in no state to be swimming let alone trying to save someone! It was a good thing he did, before she even had the chance to shout at him a massive crocodile burst out from the water, Luffy right in the middle of it's open jaws. And just like that it swallowed him whole, spitting out the hat. The three of them cried out in horror

"Wait up you! We won't let you just eat him and run away!"the boys shouted when the crocodile went to sink back into the river's depths.

When the beast turned around to snap it's jaws at them,Ace and Sabo leaped forward, tossing their pipes so they jammed into the crocodiles mouth, keeping it from snapping his jaw shut and making them breakfast as well.

"Here we go!" they shouted, ready to literally jump into the belly of the beast

But Leo was faster, shooting past the older boys she slid down the beasts throat with ease, grabbing hold of her brothers hand with one arm, she threw the other one out hoping the boys caught on to her plan. Sabo grabbed her wrist, while Ace wrapped his arms around Sabo's waist, the two boys yanking back to pull the younger two out of the crocodiles throat

"Ew ew ew ew ew ew" Leo whimpered as she lay on the rocks covered in crocodile spit and god knows what else,

With Luffy rescued they decided they may as well make use of the crocodile, no need to waste an easy meal after all. After tying it's jaw shut, and securing it's legs, stopping it from mistaking the three boys heaved the beast over their heads, making the long trek back towards Dadans house. Leo was too short to be of any real help, so she sat on top of the crocodiles back, giving directions and acting as a look out.

"Well you know...don't be mad" Sabo tried to soothe her fuming brother,which for the record she was rather pissed off they nearly got her brother eaten as well,

"Of course I'm mad! I was almost eaten!" Luffy shouted

"Oh Shut up" Ace shot back, "You can eat as much as you want when we eat this crocodile for dinner"

"Ok I forgive you!" and just like that they were forgiven. Leo pouted as she sulked on top of the crocodile, if Luffy forgave them it meant she had to as well, some days she hated how forgiving he was, sometimes she just wanted to be angry for awhile.

"You're just going to forgive us?" Sabo turned his head to stare at the strange child in confusion, they'd almost gotten him killed and he forgave them just like that.

"I wanna eat that crocodile now!" Luffy moaned, completely forgetting his previous anger, his grumbling stomach needed tending to"I want to eat dinner now!"

"Ace!" Sabo called out, "There's something I want to check on!"

Leo sighed, so the boys weren't done adventuring for the day yet...she however had reached her limit for excitement, sliding down from the crocodile, she landed hard on her feet, the noise catching the boys attention,

"You guys do what you need to, I'll head back ahead of you" she informed them as she straightened her satchel

"eh? You're not coming?" Luffy pouted, upset that she didn't want to come with him,

Her shoulders dropped as she rubbed her face, trying to find the right words to explain it,

"I just don't have the energy Nii-chan" she offered, "I'll head back and take a nap, and once you guys get back I'll be ready for whatever we have planned next."

Luffy nodded in understanding dropping the matter instantly, Ace and Sabo shared a curious glance, not entirely sure what conversation was going on between the two, but decided to drop it, after all they didn't really need four people for the task the had planned...

"I'll let Dadan know you're coming with food!" she called behind her.

When she did finally reach the hideout Dadan had her entire bandit family in a meeting discussing what they were going to do about Bluejam. Too tired to care Leo made her way to their room, curled up on Ace's futon, and let herself fall into a doze. She woke again when she heard cheers, indicating the boys had finally returned with food. She lay there fore a few minutes, the weight on her chest was still there...but she didn't feel as hollow as she used it...as if something was filling that hole.

Pushing herself up she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face when Luffy and Ace's arguing reached her. Rather someone, three someone's were filling it.


End file.
